Fight for freedom to fly

[TonyR]

I have just spoken to a microlight pilot who landed at my strip.

This single seat something potters around without any electrics at about 60mph and the pilot has to wear mountaineer's clothes.

He landed to ask if I had some spare fuel as he was getting more of a headwind than he planned on.

I gave him a couple of gallons and away he went, not a care in the world.

It will be a sad day when this aircraft requires a transponder etc, and this pilot looses the right to do what he is doing today.

Tony

[Microheavy]

It will be a sad day indeed Tony, but today may also be a sad day for that microlight pilot. Unless he holds a full Class 2 medical he cannot fly his machine over the border into the Republic of Ireland.

Quite incredible beaurocracy. A man in a flying machine weighing 300 Kg can't fly over open countryside, while a 20 stone cigarette smoking truck driver can pilot his 40 ft rig along the brutal Irish roads and all he needs is a simple declaration of fitness from his GP.

If the microlight pilot has a heart attack, he and maybe a cow will die. I shudder to think what may happen if the truckie has one.

Nothing against truck drivers by the way, just this crazy situation.

[J.A.F.O.]

And if everyone in this forum takes off at noon on 1 Jan 2008 and works non-radio in the open FIR, without Mode S (Mode Swindle)what are they going to do about it?

[robin]

Not a lot really - with the cutbacks there won't be enough RAF or civilian staff to track us, or intercept us

[dublinpilot]

But obviously it will be much more dangerous from the 1 Jan, 08 (that must be why they picked that date), and we'll all have crashed into one another by lunch time. So the authorities won't have to worry about us after that. :rolleyes:

dp