‘Small Aircraft as Big Peril’

I read with the greatest interest the Easterbrook column, which is one that shows a total bias toward “big brother” aviation, and no concern for any of the other people who fly.

Flying is not a toy of the wealthy, for although there are wealthy people who fly, the majority of general aviation is made up of ordinary people who have ordinary incomes, and do not spot themselves a big balance in the bank to keep them flying. It is the love of flying that keeps the pilot going. I am a pilot, and have never been rich, and am now retired on a fixed income and yet I continue to fly.

And I always use a transponder when I fly. And I fly from an airport with mixed types of planes, from the small ones to jets. We have no difficulties there. Many people who fly build their own planes to keep costs down. None of us really flies as much as we wish, because of limited income.

Easterbrook states that the paying of taxes does not give someone the right to fly. The same could and should hold true for the commercial jets that also pay taxes.

The author states that there are enough airports in the hinterlands for all general aviation pilots. That’s a laugh. Does he know how many have closed? Does he think that only a whale has the right to swim in an ocean because he is the biggest sea-going thing alive?

M. HANSEN

Long Beach