There's a lot of room up there. There could be 10x as many small planes as there are now, and everyone would still have plenty of space. Instrument flight might congest the controllers a bit, but basic visual flight----which is mandated under Sport Pilot rules, the easiest level to reach----wouldn't be a problem. Especially now that more and more planes have traffic advisory systems built in.
Should private citizen be in space!
- Thread starter drychlick
- Start date
There's a lot of room up there. There could be 10x as many small planes as there are now, and everyone would still have plenty of space. Instrument flight might congest the controllers a bit, but basic visual flight----which is mandated under Sport Pilot rules, the easiest level to reach----wouldn't be a problem. Especially now that more and more planes have traffic advisory systems built in.
Private Citizens pay money to be hauled up into an airplane and pushed out of it, they pay money to tie elastic ropes to their ankles and jump from bridges too.
Is going to space any different? There is risk in everything we do, even eating pretzels (ask Dubya about that one).
If private citizens are willing to take the monumental risk on, who am I to think i know better than they do.
Is going to space any different? There is risk in everything we do, even eating pretzels (ask Dubya about that one).
If private citizens are willing to take the monumental risk on, who am I to think i know better than they do.
Problem is not so much airspace but that it is already crowded in the airport areas where planes concentrate to land and take off.
As it is flight controllers are already under high stress maintaining the amount of flights and it is only ever increasing while there's only a finite number of controllers passing the exams each year (and then it takes a few years of experience to become really good). The demands are high in controllers because they can't make mistakes or people may die which is why so comparably few pass each year.
Except that Sport Pilots are not allowed in any form of controlled airspace (except class E), which means that they're limited to smaller airports without towers anyway. There's lots of those scattered around, and they wouldn't be bothering any controllers except perhaps if they ask for flight following.
Anyone taking the time to get the Private (which takes about twice as long as requires a medical) might contribute to controller workload, but still----pilot population is declining. We need to reverse the trend before worrying about oversaturation.
In fact, sport pilots can fly in controlled airspace, as long as they've received a bit of additional training and been signed off to do so by their instructor.
I flew in and out of Class C and Class D airports during my training and since, landing and taking off many times.
Good call on growing the pilot population first. Declining numbers have plagued the industry for decades, in part because of ever-sky-higher costs and the relentless pursuit of higher/faster/more expensive airplanes.
Sport flying remains thoroughly enjoyable and even though the new LSA airplanes are expensive, there's no reason several people can't buy one together, or form a club and do so, or rent one at a local airport, get a sport pilot's license, and have fun flying forever after.
I rent a J3 Cub at my local airport...for $50/hour and that's including fuel! Can't beat that, and it's legal to fly it with a Sport Pilot license, even though it's an FAA-certificated airplane.
I flew in and out of Class C and Class D airports during my training and since, landing and taking off many times.
Good call on growing the pilot population first. Declining numbers have plagued the industry for decades, in part because of ever-sky-higher costs and the relentless pursuit of higher/faster/more expensive airplanes.
Sport flying remains thoroughly enjoyable and even though the new LSA airplanes are expensive, there's no reason several people can't buy one together, or form a club and do so, or rent one at a local airport, get a sport pilot's license, and have fun flying forever after.
I rent a J3 Cub at my local airport...for $50/hour and that's including fuel! Can't beat that, and it's legal to fly it with a Sport Pilot license, even though it's an FAA-certificated airplane.
I'm guessing, though, that you're only allowed to solo in that airspace or take an instructor----in other words, you're doing it as a student pilot, not a rated sport pilot, right? You probably wouldn't be allowed to take a non-CFI passenger to a towered airport without a Private rating.
The fact is that venture capitalists--as a rule--avoid aerospace due to huge up front costs. The alt.spacers in the market now are pretty much operating at a loss, spending money they made on other ventures--Amazon, Paypal, microsoft, Doom, etc. If you do something for its own sake, no matter how much money is lost--then it really isn't capitalism any more--just a hobby. Thus spaceflight will always be more TVA than MSN.
Computer start ups only need 0s and 1s, and a code monkey to type them in, and if it looks like things will take off--you pay someone else's brick and mortar plant to stamp/burn/etch/lase CDs/DVDs and the profit comes with minimal costs at the start.
So what happens is a conversation like this.
"I think the free market will solve space"
--but you just said awhile ago that you'd be crazy to invest in that space start up--and how you lost your shirt in the Very Light Jet air taxi scheme where Rayburn of Eclipse was forced out of his own company.
"Yeah, I'd rather support the meth habit of a whole trailer park--I wouldn't go broke as quick."
So how can you say that the free market is the answer when all the suits and bean counters are as monitarily as risk averse as you are?
"You don't work for Fox do you?"
Nah--MSNBC.
Computer start ups only need 0s and 1s, and a code monkey to type them in, and if it looks like things will take off--you pay someone else's brick and mortar plant to stamp/burn/etch/lase CDs/DVDs and the profit comes with minimal costs at the start.
So what happens is a conversation like this.
"I think the free market will solve space"
--but you just said awhile ago that you'd be crazy to invest in that space start up--and how you lost your shirt in the Very Light Jet air taxi scheme where Rayburn of Eclipse was forced out of his own company.
"Yeah, I'd rather support the meth habit of a whole trailer park--I wouldn't go broke as quick."
So how can you say that the free market is the answer when all the suits and bean counters are as monitarily as risk averse as you are?
"You don't work for Fox do you?"
Nah--MSNBC.
Lots of companies have government contracts...that still doesn't make them government agencies..just a company that won a contract by being better able to do a job that the government did previously... That still qualifies as a private industry in my book...
http://www.spacex.com/
Please note that SpaceX appears to be on track to deliver a man-rated launcher, HLLV, resupply module, AND a manned spacecraft MUCH faster and for much lower cost than NASA's conventional contractors...(Lockheed anyone?)
http://www.spacex.com/
Please note that SpaceX appears to be on track to deliver a man-rated launcher, HLLV, resupply module, AND a manned spacecraft MUCH faster and for much lower cost than NASA's conventional contractors...(Lockheed anyone?)
It's the Omega Amendment: the right to bear death-ray guns.
I hope that is the case. Here is something I was thinking about. Wasn't there a plan that Gates had about bringing back the Saturn V to launch teledesic? I think his wealth is steered by his wife, who is more interested in typical charities.
I wonder if the folks behind the program here: www.buythissatellite.com might convince Gates that information needs to be free--and isn't perishable as are foodstuffs. This might at last free up money, if a charitable case can be made.
This way, should Musk make an alliance with these guys calling for, I don't know--free internet for the planet--funds might become available in a grass roots way coming from outside the typical space-advocacy community--all 20 of us...
Or a law might be passed at a later date that all genetically altered material be developed off world, so as to force big business into space investments they would otherwise ignore. There has to be some kind of bait...
