Loosing your field due to someone else's actions would piss me off also but you can't carry that emotion over to another discussion and think it's completely valid. These guys are flying out on farm land where I assume there's a very low risk of hitting something and not out at your club field.

You did mention that they should be glad that nobody got hurt and that is basically the "thank god nobody got killed" justification that people always use on the boards to emphasize their point. People hardly ever get hurt in this hobby due to getting hit by a plane the statistics don't warrant the use of the arguement in my opinion.

As for the "feel good story", I wasn't using it as justification for my position and only commenting on the contrast to your black and white view of how the hobby should be pursued. I think that the best way to learn is with a competant instructor and a 40 sized glow plane but if some guy out in Bumfrick, Idaho wants to go it alone and isn't near any populated areas I say do it. I would only hope that they have a video camera to share the results with the rest of us.