We are all aware of the "Swiss Cheese" model for aircraft accidents. If Mick in -MDX had been permitted to flight plan coastal, as he should have been, the other factors would not most likely have lined up and he and his pax would most likely not have been lost. On Friday June 1st 2001 I was quoted in the Australian (as AOPA President of the day) as "demanding" American regs in this country, including airspace regs. We were given US airspace classifications, such as "E" and such but "redefined" so that E ended up more like C . The reasons given for US regs not being applicable were as many as they were ridiculous. "The US are rewriting their regs" (hasn't happened yet) "We have a different legal system so their regs wouldn't work here" (from CASA's legal department). The truth is DCA/CAA/CASA etc like all bureaucrats like power and so they like proscriptive regs . In the meantime we have been stalled in the reg rewrite for twenty years. Un stuffing believable but true . At least part of the reason is that pilots here understand our system and like pilots everywhere don't like change. We even have regions with "rules" that do not reflect those that are written. Dick has his own way of attracting attention, so hate him as you wish, but having flown in less restrictive countries he is apoplectic at being constantly led along the garden path by those who promise change and do not deliver. I share his frustration. Our military have more restricted airspace than the the US and in most of theirs VFR can transit unhindered. I confess that I was startled when i was allowed over Travis Airforce Base (major transport base) in the US at 3,000 VFR without a clearance but that is how it worked. ' People like Dick are not just "private pilots", they are ambassadors for freedom. If he was given support instead of this nit picking we might get somewhere.