I was an amaetur pilot for some time, enough time to conclude from experience and talking to colleagues in the realm of aviation that regulatory institutions across the world enforce the strict (and reasonably so) rules on pilots and smaller companies, while turning a blind eye to big airlines, manufacturers and succumbing to political incentives.
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> succumbing to political incentives
Why are people surprised when government institutions succumb to political incentives?
I once had a discussion with a PhD research scientists who said how great NSF funding was because they made funding decisions completely on scientific merit. I pointed out all the ways that it obviously allocated funds based on bias and politics.
Yes, I agree with your point. But I was talking about nastier cases of corruption, for example, in certain latin american countries some low-cost airlines between central and south america got approved for operation, some without even satisfying basic requirements, but god forbid small businesses didn't. After some years, these same airlines filed for bankruptcy or got suspended. The kicker? It was discovered they were never profitable, and have since been suspected to be involved in dropping of foreign illegal workers, coming to their destinations as tourists. The most obvious giveaway apart from the latter is that if a carrier is low-cost, it most definitely should have at least a set of profitable domestic flights, and the ones I mentioned above didn't. One of the politicians suspected to be involved (this started under her presidency) is now sitting at the top of a United Nations office.
"The government has a defect. It's _potentially_ democratic. Corporations have no defects. They're pure tyrannies."
- Noam Chomsky
Tell us about the last time a corporation ordered you to do anything?
A corporation can change the world around you to your massive detriment without your input. Poison your river, pollute your air, etc. They don't have to tell you to do anything to harm you without recourse.
You can sue them for harm done to you. People do it all the time.
you make a good point and i agree with you, especially today.
but, to answer your question in earnest: a long time ago - east india company? dole fruit?
TEIC was a quasi government operation, not a corporation as we know them today.
agreed.
but does that also apply (though obviously not to the same extent i’d admit) to say halliburton?
I would be interested to know why you quit.
I took some classes, but never got the license - it seems very high risk to fly once every few months in terms of skill degradation from disuse, and I never got any real excitement out of just going up to fly a rented Cessna when it's $150+ an hour, so I don't see myself just doing for that. Actually "flying cross-country" also seems impractical without skill upkeep.
Seems like the stereotype "it's for rich bored people" is mainly true unless it's a primary hobby or people are going for airline pilot in the long run.
P.S. Another random thought, but I feel like I would need to just spend 2 days straight landing and taking off to get comfortable with it. Like take-off, get some altitude, transition to slow flight, practice approach pattern, fully land, turn around, take off again. Seems like the classes spend a lot of time on stuff that doesn't really happen that much (stalls), stuff that isn't critical (ideal 180 turns within x time), etc.
Yes, I and my father would 'fall' in the category of rich bored people (or being more precise, well-off STEM grads). It's risky, but it was beautiful. Unfortunately, at the time I took the classes I was also writing my thesis which meant sleeping very little (4 hours a day at best), and on top of my college studies I had to commute to the aerodrome 1 hour just to get there in the morning. I was so tired that I'd fall asleep at noon on the ride home. Then one day I crashed the plane on a fence after landing, it was a runway excursion due to my low reflexes and lack of sleep. The plane sustained minor damage and I got out unharmed, insurance covered most of the bill (a couple thousand) and I decided that I would get back to aviation after finishing my academic duties in a different setting, likely as an engineer/numerical analyst. I'm looking into buying smaller aircraft, likely an ultralight plane or a STOL [0]. I just like aviation too much, but I'm not willing to have another brush with death.
In the meantime, two of my acquaintances died instantly after crashing on the slope of a volcano.
I quit flying because I found that I didn't want to go from A to B without having a car on the other end, that "just flying" was pretty boring, that aerobatics was real fun but also a huge commitment, and that I did not care that much after the initial success.
I have about 175 hours, some 25 or so aerobatics (Attitude Aviation, Livermore, under the original owner), most of the time in and around the SF Bay Area. One hour in a glider (Byron)
I started flying at WVFC (West Valley Flying Club) while working at a nearby software company. Mostly during work hours actually, I was pretty bored at work.
I had already done some skydiving - during pre-military training in East Germany. I had had glasses when I grew up and in East Germany you did not fly casually, same with the skydiving, if you were young the goal always was the military career. On the other hand, the state paid for it all. Because of glasses I was under the impression I had no chance to ever be a pilot so I never even tried. Later I stopped needing glasses but never revisited the issue, despite some heavy longing (during youth I subscribed to a monthly East German flying magazine.
When I worked in my boring software job the Piper and Cessna aircraft kept flying right over our lunch area on their landing approach to the airport just two or so miles away. So some day while having lunch, looking up, it finally clicked in my head - I now had actual money and all the East German restrictions where gone, why couldn't I...
Anyway, I really enjoyed it, not just the flying itself but also the system and the discipline it required. Even things like approaches to airports without tower and radio and other procedures.
I increasingly felt that it became too much effort for less and less gain. A whole Sunday afternoon if not more was gone even for less than an hour of aerobatics. Advantage of that type of flying, even if it requires something with a higher hourly rate than a Cessna or a Piper, is that an hour or less is all you need, so in the end you do significantly more "flying" than during cross-country, but you actually safe money and time. During cross-country, as far as the flying is concerned, you mostly just sit there. The processes and procedures can be fun. Still, as I said, I did not really gain anything from flying to some other place, another reason for aerobatics, where you end up at the same airport you started from.
Two images from a relatively cheap but modern positive-G-only acro training aircraft, back then one of Attitude Aviations:
https://i.imgur.com/Rd5VW3R.jpg (trying to take a picture while flying a loop - so I ended up with a terrible loop, but I got the picture)
https://i.imgur.com/4bwJn13.jpg (view of cockpit of Grob 115C acro)
Only replying to this to avoid spam, but really appreciate both perspectives. I think all of this resonates with what I originally described, though I have way less experience than both of you.