Watch out...Have fun
When you are driving down the highway, you always stay on the right side of the road. When you are at Wal-Mart you instinctively walk on the right side of the isle. In Sailing, the Starboard (right) tack has the right of way over a vessel on a port (left) tack. In Aviation, the government has written volumes on who should give way to who, under which circumstances, day or night, and on and on and on. Every Department of the government has a room full of lawyers who do nothing all day but sit around and write rules and regulations. One half of the room will write down a simple rule. The other half will say..."yes, but what if...." (for Mandy it's "YABUT") Then the first half will add another paragraph. Then the other side of the room will say...."OK. But what if..."and on and on it goes. After this process continues for a pre determined amount of time, they weigh the paper work they created. If it is of the right weight they will forward it to a "SELECT COMMITTEE" for further review. If and when the committee comes to an agreement the publish a small 50 or 60 page section to an already full blown regulation that defines the right of way rules.
This process is a far cry from what the Civil Aeronautics Board used back in 1920.
Let's drift back to those thrilling days of yesteryear and imagine Clyde walking down a hallway one afternoon. He is running late. He has a tee time and 3 junior G men waiting for him. He sticks his head into Farley's door and says "Farley, write me a regulation about right of way rules for Aviators."
"OK Boss" replies Farley. (the lowest man on the totem pole in the 5 man bureaucracy)
Old Farley whips 2 sheets of crisp white paper and a thin piece of carbon paper into his trusty American Standard type writer and rule number 12 was born.
Rule 12 in the Regulations for Operation of Aircraft:
"If you see another machine near you, get out of the way."
This rule seemed to work pretty well for a time. But alas, the government started hiring more and more lawyers, the smile bureaucracies grew by the rule of 10, the CAA morphed into the FAA. It must have been the best of times back then when all you had to do was fly. Get the wind in your face and fly. Kick the tires, light the fire and fly. (don't forget your hankie)
Rule 6 in the Regulations for Operation of Aircraft
"Pilots should carry hankies in a handy position to wipe off goggles."
This process is a far cry from what the Civil Aeronautics Board used back in 1920.
Let's drift back to those thrilling days of yesteryear and imagine Clyde walking down a hallway one afternoon. He is running late. He has a tee time and 3 junior G men waiting for him. He sticks his head into Farley's door and says "Farley, write me a regulation about right of way rules for Aviators."
"OK Boss" replies Farley. (the lowest man on the totem pole in the 5 man bureaucracy)
Old Farley whips 2 sheets of crisp white paper and a thin piece of carbon paper into his trusty American Standard type writer and rule number 12 was born.
Rule 12 in the Regulations for Operation of Aircraft:
This rule seemed to work pretty well for a time. But alas, the government started hiring more and more lawyers, the smile bureaucracies grew by the rule of 10, the CAA morphed into the FAA. It must have been the best of times back then when all you had to do was fly. Get the wind in your face and fly. Kick the tires, light the fire and fly. (don't forget your hankie)
Rule 6 in the Regulations for Operation of Aircraft
posted by Rob | 1:21 PM
3 Comments:
Seriously, how did you get a copy of these old rules? Do you really have them, or are they just from memory? These rules crack me up!
I have always thought that the government has too many chiefs and not enough indians- which is why we get rules manuals with four paragraphs describing the terms of one rule!
By the way - it's yabIt, not yabUt!
No, After listening to that for years and years...it's YABUT.
Sorry, you two. It's "Yeahbut."
I know this because I'm the Mom.
LOL
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