Don't forget military jets. They forgot to take them to Midas for muffler updates. Can you say LOUD?

and yet again... we have derail

I did? Here's what I wrote in post #35:

"We'll not be able to rid the world of any and all danger, but the danger of small planes, sometimes with haphazard maintenance histories, falling on people and their homes unexpectedly is one danger that strikes me as one that can be done away with."

I suspect that most of the time, the vast majority of cases, maintenance is done well. There's a big investment there. Not always the case though. Hence the word "sometimes." Oh well, nothing will be perfect in life but with most auto breakdowns, you cruise to the side of the road.

And then you have people in shoddily built planes, like John Denver.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I'm not a big fan of Fleet Week in the Bay Area and the Blue Angels doing their thing. Odd entertainment for me.
True, it wasn't a good comparison. I can see how flying a small plane would be fun - I always get a window seat on airliners because you just don't get many chances to take in a view like that. But small planes just don't strike me as practical and I don't like the noise when I'm on the ground, don't want to be making that noise myself.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Yes, John Denver's plane was not well built, but the accident was clearly due to his own careless stupidity. Read the NTSB accident report and I expect that you will agree.

Shoddy maintenance with certificated aircraft is NOT a common problem. Home builts bypass the certification and maintenance requirements, so what can one expect? Don't get me wrong. People have all the right in the world to build and fly aircraft as they choose.

I personally have no desire to fly any home built or experimental aircraft.

All this discussion about noise is quite interesting. Are there people trying to say that an airplane 1,000 feet in the air is noisier than an open exhaust Harley passing by on the street?

In a populated area, aircraft are required to stay 1,000 feet from any object. If you are in an airport traffic pattern, were you there first, or was the airport there first?

I don't consider GA aircraft that noisy. I was at the Minden-Tahoe Airport the other day inside Trail Dragger Cafe enjoying one of their excellent burgers. I watched two Cessnas take off while I was eating, but couldn't hear them over the stereo at mild volume and light restaurant noise.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

A Harley is louder but it doesn't last long. Quickly enough, it's down the road and the noise is obscured by objects and sound barriers on the ground. The noise of a small plane lingers, takes several minutes to go away.

I got the biggest dose of it I'd had in a while at my client's house a few days back. One plane or helicopter after another. The noise was nonstop for a couple of hours.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Sounds like you're looking for a perfect world.

I can hear a pack of Harley's several miles away when I'm outside. There is no other noise around my place except for cows and wildlife. Those things thunder along in a pack, and make LOTS of noise, but it really doesn't bother me.

I can hear airplanes for miles too, and they don't bother me either.

Again, if you're in the traffic pattern, was the airplane or the building that you're standing in there first?

Sounds to me like you think flying small planes is a right conferred by God. I'm not going to find a perfect world but I have lived in a few quiet environments and it's a blessing. Yeah, I know, I'm free to move to such a place but one has a desire to be around friends and family.

When I was working on my client's house that afternoon, I heard very little by way of cars (or Harleys) through the window but I did hear one aircraft after another. No small airports nearby.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I'll try one more time. Was the house there first or the airport?

HELLO, HELLO, there is no airport nearby. I'll give you an approx. intersection, one block away - see if you can find an airport nearby:

58th and Telegraph, probably North Oakland but the Berkeley/Oakland border snakes around.

And even in a case where an airport was long established, there is finite land on earth, things change.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K