by
Darryl Phillips
It's nice to be special. Human nature places a high value on that "special" feeling. Abe Lincoln remarked that God must have loved the common man, he made so many of them. But Mark Twain cautioned against calling anyone "common" to his face! We all want to be special.
Pilots are special. Virtually every adult in this country drives a car, but only one person out of 370 flies a plane. That makes us special.
It's hard to say how many individuals are aircraft owners. Many planes are owned by true corporations, but even more are owned by corporations that only exist to shield the real owner. And of course some are owned in partnership. So how many of us own an aircraft? Best guess is about one American out of every 1600.
Those who own a flying machine are special indeed. And very special things often command a very high price. I wonder if we can afford to be this special.
Consider the price Sam Skinner had to pay when nominated to head the Department of Transportation. He was required to sell his planes. Imagine that, to demonstrate that he had no conflict of interest, he had to divest himself of his flying machines. Of course DOT also regulates highways and the auto industry, yet nobody suggested that he should sell his cars. And DOT has a hand in the boating industry too, but he didn't have to sell his boat. Why his planes? Because airplanes are special.
Whenever an aircraft has an accident, here comes the NTSB. Just think what that means! The federal government sends investigators to check every rivet and gasket in the machine, (to say nothing of the investigation of the paperwork and everyone who ever handled THAT) in an attempt to determine how the pilot made his error. Why? Because airplanes are special.
If you or I piled a motorbike into a tree and broke a limb, only the owner of the bike or the tree would care. No big deal. Maybe we just hit the turn a little fast. Or maybe we were looking at that pretty girl, or maybe..... Doesn't matter, it's still no big deal. But if we taxi a plane into a tree, well, planes are special, and it becomes a federal matter.
Of course some accidents are more serious, some are fatal. It is a tragedy when a family member is killed, gone forever. But the tragedy is the same whether the mishap occurs in an old GMC or a new Malibu. Yet an auto accident is scarcely reported outside the community, the same loss of life in a plane is often carried on TV nationwide. Human suffering is a tragedy, but airplanes are special.
It's the same in the legal arena, pilots are special. We aren't accorded those rights we learned about in grade school civics class. Muggers have rights, rapists have rights, everyone has rights but pilots. Do we really want to be that special?
When it comes to physical condition, pilots are very special. Any driver, no matter how old or frail, can drive in the fog and rain and barely miss a loaded school bus. Nobody gives it a thought. Perhaps the driver is on medication, or is depressed, or whatever. Society doesn't care about automobile drivers, they aren't special. But many pilots are so afraid of the FAA that they fail to get needed medical care for fear the federal government will cancel their license to fly. Other pilots get the needed care, then lie about it and risk absurd penalties. Because we're special.
Our little town of Sallisaw is typical middle America. We have a Mayor and City Council that do a pretty good job of running the town. They are very interested in bringing more business to the area, and would do anything possible to aid a new employer who wanted to set up shop in our community. Without exception, they believe in free enterprise and liberty and the American way. That is, until the subject is airplanes.
But airplanes are special. While the city would welcome a new truck stop and would certainly approve the necessary roadway modifications to accommodate it, they take the opposite view of airplanes. They cannot understand that competition and free enterprise apply to airplane stops just as they do to truck stops. They spend lots of money supporting the local airport, but believe that we should have exactly one FBO. The city has chosen who that should be, they pay him very well indeed. Plus they provide free office space and utilities, supply a large maintenance hangar free of cost, and give him gobs of other benefits. And any gas he pumps or repair work he does is pure profit, nothing goes back to the city. Furthermore, since airplanes are special, the city prohibits anyone else from working on them. Airplanes are so special that competition and free enterprise just don't apply.
I'm tired of special. I feel like a kid in a wheelchair who doesn't want to be treated different any more. I want to run and jump and skin up my knees and do all the things the rest of society gets to do. I don't want the NTSB to care if I run into a tree. I want to open my own lemonade stand, and if I decide to face it toward the taxiway rather than the street, I want people to understand that we're all individuals.
I don't want to be this special. Do you?