6/25/2009
After watching this thread develop, I found myself with my blood boiling. I wanted to respond, but to who? I needed to vent myself. Here goes.
Dan LLoyd's RV-10 accident was tragic. I knew him. Not well by any stretch. Smart fun guy. Family man. He was doing what he loved. Sure I hated that damn EGG Subie he put on there. But he wanted it and loved it. The FAA comes out and delivers a report with an obvious ax to grind and the jonny come latelys, who know nothing, beat and judge a dead man. Who do you people think you are?
You know nothing but the selected facts the FAA choose to give you. How dare you come back and pick those pieces apart like you know something. You know nothing. Yes he made mistakes. So have you. I dare say If/when any of you auger in, I could come behind you and paint any picture I wanted. ANY. You think not? Your wrong I assure you. I could paint any picture I wanted.
You think the FAA's report on Dan was normal? You think they knew some things that they left out? I dunno. You can't go through this much trouble and not have gathered a ton of information. What they wrote was indeed selective. Why then select those things? Little excerpts from this conversation or that, out of context means nothing. Ive admitted my ignorance a hundred times. But taking one of those and putting it in a report as fact? What's that all about? What is their intent really? Who knows. You think that maybe they had a point to make? You think maybe they were steering you somewhere? NO? Think again.
The cause of this accident, which is not clearly pointed out and required some sleuthing to discern, was a poor crimp on a terminal, resulting in an electrically dependent engine loosing its electrons. That was the cause. All that other crap in there is just BS. While the other items may be interesting, they are not relevant to the failure. Why then did the investigators put all that other non-sense in there? Ive reads hundreds of reports, never one like that.
But wait, you say that take all those and they paint a picture. I could argue every one of those points and make the exact opposite picture.
I would argue that Dan worked hard trying to make his system work. He consulted the designers repeatedly. That seems like a man intent on getting help from people smarter than him to get his rig running. We no nothing of the planes condition or safety of flight. Violate FAA regs? Perhaps. A man run amuck with total disregard for safety? We can't know from the very selective and limited facts of the report.
In 10 minutes I could work on my plane, make a mistake, auger in, and your gonna say, "who inspected that?" You know nothing of its condition on inspection, or 5 minutes before I auger in. Blame the DAR? What are you kidding?
This all leads me to my point, don't any of you dare come behind me if/when I auger in and think you know anything. I take many risks. I choose them. Willfully. I hope I don't hurt anyone when I go, especially one of my friends. I fly with them a lot. But don't any of you come behind me and point fingers and think you know anything about me because of some FAA report, or anything else. You know nothing. I choose to do many many risky things others would never dream about.
I choose it cause I enjoy it. I find it challenging and exciting. I fly an airplane the manufacturer says should never be flown, built in my basement, that others say is craziness. I fly formation, I do aerobatics, I get in planes others will not. SO WHAT? This is America. Its my freedom. I use it. If you don't, that's fine too. But don't you dare come behind me and think you know anything. You know nothing of me.
Others do things I think are nuts. Thank god for them. They push the envelope. Someone has to do it. Good on em! Sit in your chair and watch from your living room if you want. Some people put on bat suits and jump off cliffs. Not me. But I will never come behind them and ridicule them or call them names when they hit the wall. Im glad they have the balls to do it. Im glad they are living life to the edge. Thank god for them. How exciting their life must be. And thanks to all those envelope pushers who have come up with new and exciting developments in life.
One mans crazy risk is another mans boring day. Fly a single engine plane over open water? What are you crazy? To some, to me its boring and just another day. Fly a plane you built in your basement into weather over mountains? Geez thats nuts right? Just another boring day for me.
Want to learn from my mistakes and not make em yourself? Fine with me. Ive made plenty, Ill make plenty more. Debate all day on how you would never do that. Good on you. Debate the merits. Ask tough questions. But know this, after some level of consideration, some risk assessment, know that I make my own considered choices, some more considered than others. One day my chickens may come home to roost. I do have feelings for the folks I will leave behind, their pain of not having me around. But don't you feel sorry for me. Im happy living, doing stuff others think are nuts. Read a government report and come behind them with your conclusions about me? Shame on you. Reach a conclusion by asking questions and digging hard. If you really want to learn, do some work. Question everything.
Don't you dare beat my grave when I'm gone with your righteous high and mighty nonsense. Who do you think you are? I live my own life. Rant off.
6/26/2009
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