Shortly before I moved to this area (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - COE), a
Washington based pilot lost his life along with a passenger and a IVP by
taking off into a heavy wet snow-storm - he didn't last 5 minutes before he
crashed into a home near here. The story was that he had flown over from
Spokane for the slightly less expensive gas here. Even a close friend here,
who is a retired Navy carrier pilot, said the weather was so bad that day
that he wouldn't even take his airplane out of the hangar. Perhaps
P.T.Barnum (I think it was) was right when he said "There's a sucker born
every minute".

It's obvious (it seems to me, anyway) that the one thing we, as pilots, need
the most is what must be the hardest for the instructor community to
impart - namely good judgement and common sense.

As long as I've been flying (and at my age, that's longer than I wish to
divulge) there've been discussions, classes, pleas by the various alphabet
groups, new regulations, etc., etc. to help pilots develop a good judgement
gene - but the list of "Pilot Error" wrecks keeps on growing. We can only
hope that there are a lot of us alive today because all that cajoling has
worked on most of us - and I, for one, welcome any and all of those who keep
pounding away at the subject.

Unfortunately, the message does not seem to be able to hit home with
everyone in the community and probably never will or can (perhaps there are
some types out there who can NEVER get it - too bad) , but the discussion
should continue since new pilots are fledged every day and it may help save
the ones that are amenable to the message.

My .02, FWIW.

Dan Schaefer