msuniverse2026 an hour ago

It is so unfortunate that flying has such a credentialist mafia holding it back from more widespread use. Imagine if motorcycles had even half the regulations to ride as single seater aircraft do. Such a ridiculous state of affairs.

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tene80i an hour ago | parent [-]

You don’t think there are any noteworthy differences between a motorcycle and an aircraft in the sort of damage it can do and where?

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AngryData an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Depends on the aircraft, current ultralights that you don't need to drop $100,000 to get licensed for can only weigh 250 lbs, while motorcycles don't really have a limit and can weight over 1,000 lbs, approaching the weight of a Cessna 152. And when you account for crash scenarios, yeah the rider is at risk in both, but the motorcycle is far more likely to be in and around other people and vehicles during a crash, while a plane is 99% of the time over clear land and even an emergency landing is unlikely to put other people at risk.

It ain't a perfect comparison, both have problems, but it is far easier to get a license to drive a truck hauling 20+ tons than to get a license to fly a 500 pound plane, and motorcycle licenses is basically a signature and a couple bucks away.

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msuniverse2026 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A 200kg Kawasaki H2R can go close to 400kph on a two lane road. It is not going to cause any less damage than a single seater falling out of the sky somewhere randomly.

	▲	nosianu 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		(I'm a PP-ASEL, earned in and around SF Bay Area air spaces almost three decades ago) First, people are more likely to crash during takeoffs and landings, not in the middle of a flight. Second, it's also not just about the damage caused to others, and even if you crash in the middle of nowhere quite a few people will be busy dealing with it - in that case, remoteness is not a good thing but actually more costly. They won't just leave you and the airplane lying at the crash site until nature reclaims it all. Furthermore, it is not just the flying itself. If that is what you wanted, the crazy early times of flight would have been for you, when everybody could just do whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted. Much of the learning for the license is the rules and procedures. Air space if very busy! I have small class D airports where there is so much traffic sometimes that I can hardly get a word in to announce myself. This will have the potential for stress and errors long after you got used to the flying itself. I can't even begin the shortcuts someone's thinking has to take to think flying and driving should be treated the same.

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fransje26 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Some people thought there weren't. They are not here to tell their tale anymore.