Big Brother is Watching
“Hey, I’m not paranoid. But everyone is out to get me…” In the 21st century, nary a day goes by that a security camera, paparazzo, web cam, smartphone photo, Twitter post, or e-mail doesn’t undo a celebrity, politician, or executive somewhere. An entire industry of magazines and low-budget television shows (TMZ, anyone?) testifies to the fact: we are always being watched. Did you stop by the bank or eat at a restaurant today? Smile — you’re on candid camera! Driving in your car? Cameras abound on highways and streets. Law enforcement vehicles have them built-in. If you used a credit card, proximity key card, or access badge, your location has been logged. At work and at home, computer and/or phone usage leaves a trace,...
Read MoreThe Double Standard
Last July, an Alabama resident unhappy about the noise generated by an antique Boeing Stearman biplane decided to take matters into his own hands. According to the FBI, at least one witness on the ground saw Jason Allen McCay fire “several shotgun blasts” at the aircraft as it attempted to land at Campbell Field. The plane was at an altitude of about 75 feet and was about 300 feet from touching down when McCay fired the shots. Fred Campbell, who built the airstrip in 1963, bought the Stearman biplane in 1976 and, since that time, he and friends have completely rebuilt the plane. The plane had not flown for 30 years when they took it up on test flights June 22. The plane was concluding its third test flight of the day when McCay fired his shots. McCay...
Read MoreFAA Proposes Class D Airspace at LAX
As Andrew Jackson said during his farewell address to the country, “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance”. Nowhere is this more true than when dealing with our freedom to fly. Thankfully we’ve got organizations like AOPA to help monitor the reams of NPRMs and documents issued by the federal government on a daily basis. I say thankfully because as connected as I am to the industry, there’s no way I could keep up with the blizzard of paperwork flying out of Washington. It’s hard to remember how we did it even half as well before the advent of the world wide web. AOPA recently found a proposed change to the Los Angeles Class B airspace. This change isn’t a physically large one, and it won’t have much if any impact for...
Read MoreA Carb-Free Future
As large as the aviation industry looks to those on the outside, once you’re on the other side of the fence, it doesn’t take long to realize that it’s a very small world. One of the big challenges facing that world has been from product liability issues. In fact, for about a decade, the general aviation industry stopped producing new airplanes. From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, product liability was such that every major OEM exited the business. The insurance costs rose, the manufacturers had no choice but to pass that on to the consumer, who was summarily priced out of the market. Sales fell, per-unit liability costs rose further, and the cycle spiraled downward until even those companies which still had an operating production line were only...
Read MoreCharts: Are They Required?
If I had a “frequently asked questions” list for glass panels, the first question on the list would probably be: “is it legal to fly with electronic charts alone (ie. no paper on board)?”. Without exception, every person I’ve flown with in an Entegra or G1000 equipped aircraft has made this inquiry. My response has always been that while it’s not a wise idea to fly without paper since an electrical component failure could render your whole charting system inoperative, from a legal standpoint, electronic charts are acceptable as a substitute. Get caught above the stratus without your approach plates? If you have the electronic charts, go ahead and do the approach. In fact, as far as I know there is no legal requirement to carry...
Read MoreJust Drop Off the Key, Lee
It seems that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca thinks he’s above the law. Normally he’d be right. But Baca’s department demonstrated a custom designed unmanned surveillance drone to the media last week. The problem? They ignored written counsel from the Federal Aviation Administration, which had told the Sheriff’s Department that flying the drone would require certification from the Feds before flight would be allowed. They flew the drone anyway. “I wouldn’t want to term us as peeved, but we were definitely surprised,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Sheriff’s officials were told “that we were more than willing to sit down and talk about a certificate — but that was before their first flight.”...
Read MoreThis Verdict Was Made For Walking
I’d be the last person to defend Michael Jackson (or his music). But he went free because those who testified against him had serious credibility problems that the prosecutor couldn’t overcome. Jackson has plenty of credibility issues of his own, which is more than enough to convict him at the office watercooler. But in American courtrooms, the onus is on the prosecution to remove any reasonable doubt from the minds of the jurors. When both sides have credibility issues, as they did in this case, the presumption of innocence goes to the accused and he moon-walks free. The case was not tried very well by the prosecutor. I mean, what was the deal with the conspiracy charge? As far as I know, this charge was essentially ignored by the DA. They presented no evidence...
Read MoreA Modest Proposal
I hope Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski, Bernie Ebbers, and others of their ilk are reading this. BEIJING (Reuters) – China executed four people, including employees of two of its Big Four state-owned banks, for fraud totaling $15 million, the state Xinhua news agency said Tuesday. The executions occurred in the midst a high-profile government campaign against financial crime. They followed a string of arrests in white-collar crime as China prepares to sell shares publicly in its big banks. The story goes on to detail the method of execution: a gunshot to the back of the head. Now, if this is the punishment for $15 million in fraud, what kind of penalty would Kenneth Lay — who saw more than $1 billion worth of securities and wire fraud on his watch —...
Read MoreVan Nuys Courthouse Shooting
Between the ambulance chasers, frivolous lawsuits, corporate maneuvering, high finance, and other big dollar areas of our society which are controlled by attorneys, it’s no wonder that dead lawyer jokes are as common as peanuts on a Southwest 737. It’s understandable. Consider our nation’s finest minds, our most brilliant and highly educated physicians. These are people have worked their way to the pinnacle of the most highly competitive and respected field of work on the planet. They can cure the obscure diseases, reattach severed limbs, and banish pain. Yet these very same people cower in fear at a simple legal envelope bearing a return address containing the phrase “The Law Offices of…” The sad fact of the matter is that...
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