[ARC5] B-17 Crash Near Hartford CT

[Michael Hanz]

On 10/3/2019 11:51 AM, Mark K3MSB wrote:
> Have you ever flown, or flown in, a WW II era aircraft?   My plane was 
> built in 1947 and was basically WW II technology in a civilian light 
> plane.    I learned to fly in 1980s aircraft.   It was a totally 
> different experience when I stepped into my 1947 plane.   If you 
> haven't experience it,  you don't understand it, and you won't 
> understand it by just looking inside with it sitting on the ground.
>
> I appreciate your perspective and thoughts Mike, but I have to 
> disagree.   If someone invests their legally earned money into making 
> a B-17 fly,  they have the right to do with their property what they 
> desire (as long as its legal).

I would conditionally agree with you, as long as it is a flyby or 
demonstration around an airport, etc.  The antique aviation community 
does a lot of that, and it is exciting to watch a big warbird do a 
takeoff and low pass over the runway.  Kudos to the owners!  However, 
when someone like Jeff Ethell dies in a priceless P-38 doing aerobatics 
or whatever, he does it understanding the risks and willing to pay the 
price if something goes wrong.  I briefly mourn every one of those 
deaths, then move on, as I must.

But once you start carrying the public, the legal owner takes on an 
added risk that you did not mention, and that is paying the piper for 
the inevitable lawsuits that will ensue.  Unlike the enthusiasts who own 
and fly these planes, the passengers have every right to expect to get 
up in the air and back down in one piece, regardless of what legalese 
they may have signed in an exuberant moment of anticipation.  They 
certainly did not agree to end up deceased and then say, "Thanks a lot 
for the totally different experience!.  Now I understand, fat lot of 
good it does me now..."  Sadly, I can see the lawyers rubbing their 
hands together already.  Unfortunately, it may eventually mean the end 
of the Collings Foundation - at least in its current form.

Just my opinion, which you may discard at any convenient time...

- Mike  KC4TOS