ORIGINAL: littlecrankshaf




Thanks Ken. I apologize for participating in the "play ground".

Of course we could always just point questions and concerns to the AMA or AMA website for answers...One big sticky and dispense with the rest of the forum... but we are being allowed to discuss aspects of AMA here and as always there are two sides. There will always be those that will always blindly and loyally subscribe to whatever the AMA promulgates and there will be others that have a few issues with one aspect or another...that is fine also.

Now with all that said and since we have allowed much philosophical discussion of a few here I am hoping I can be afforded a chance to highlight some problems with the turbine waiver system as I see it.


First off, the waiver system perpetuates the good ole boy system. I have personally witnessed waivers given to pilots that can barely keep an ugly stick in the air while much better pilots are made to beg. More importantly this waiver system has nothing in it to insure Turbines are flown in appropriate locations. I have witnessed turbines flown in some very high risk (of the unaware) locations at the discretion of those that otherwise openly and publicly admonish others about safety...simply ludicrous to say the least.

I am for scraping the current system and instead of the signing off of pilots, install a new system where the flying fields are approved and authorized for turbine use. Some sites may actually be fine during some months of the year and not ok at other times. To sum it up...the pilot status is a much lesser concern than the location chosen to fly turbines. The pilot's ability is pretty much self righting...if they truly can't fly a turbine it won't take long and they will be out of business while even the best pilots pose great risk in a bad location.