Gotta go with Tom Gourley on this one.  I can see ZERO POSITIVE PUBLIC PERCEPTION of home built, experimental, EAA, private flyers, pilot attitudes, etc.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Gourley" <tom.gourley@verizon.net>
To: <lml@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 7:06 AM
Subject: [LML] Re: Movie

Yes, I am a little paranoid.  I guess that's because the general public (those not knowledgeable about flying), bureaucrats and politicians, and in particular the media seem to delight in leaping to totally illogical, and inaccurate, conclusions about the dangers of "small" airplanes and their irresponsible pilots any time there is any sort of incident or perceived threat no matter how irrational that perception may be. Attempts at educating these folks are usually doomed to failure because, for the most part, they have no interest in being educated.  They're much happier believing what they please (my mind's made up; don't confuse me with facts) or what they're told by the talking heads on TV and the Internet. Consequently I don't like to offer up any additional reasons to fuel their delusions.  There are a lot more of them than there are of us.

Over 800 people die every week in the US in automobile accidents but it's rare for one of those accidents to make the national news.  (How many have you seen on CNN lately?)  A GA aircraft fatality frequently shows up in the national news and it's not uncommon for one to generate rumblings about increasing the restrictions on where and how we fly.  Over 40,000 traffic deaths per year cause no such reaction.  For the majority of people cars are a big part of everyday life, and a major piece of our economy, and no one wants to have their driving privileges tampered with. That same majority couldn't care less if we're allowed to fly or not. Like it or not we're a very small minority but what we do is highly visible.

Back to the movie.  Yes, it looks like there is some really neat flying in the movie and I would like to see that part.  It's the rest of the plot, at least the way it's presented in the trailer, that I'm not crazy about.

Tom Gourley



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