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Julie Benson with a handful of Rubber Chickens.<\/strong><\/p>\nWith a good friend, I was practicing for the \u201cGreat Rubber Chicken Drop\u201d at the Sisters airport.\u00a0 With lots of practice approaches and drops, I used a fairly close approach.\u00a0 But someone who was watching was just sure that there must be some regulation I was busting[1]<\/a>, so she called the FAA[2]<\/a>.\u00a0 When I had my conversation with two feds, I pointed out to them that I knew the rules and that I had violated no FARs while practicing for the rubber chicken drop (some of you are starting to giggle right now and I don\u2019t blame you!).\u00a0 At that point, one of the boys in polyester pants pointed out to me that it wasn\u2019t enough to follow the rules\u2026 we also have to be \u201cgood neighbors\u201d.\u00a0 Although I pointed out to him that I didn\u2019t realize that not being a good neighbor was grounds for a violation, I have to admit that I kinda and within reason agreed with him!<\/h3>\n
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I find myself often trying to be a good neighbor.\u00a0Here\u2019s an example:<\/h3>\n
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We have a hater who actually owns a home on the airport.\u00a0 It\u2019s a home he bought so that his kids could practice basketball in its giant hangar in the winter. \u00a0\u00a0When I take off at this airport, I actually take pains to clear his house with more than the legally required clearance, not that there is any such thing!\u00a0 It costs me nothing, doesn\u2019t put me at any more risk and is a neighborly thing to do, considering that I know how much he hates airplanes.\u00a0 On those rare occasions when a student didn\u2019t fly the same route on takeoff and actually got a little closer, the owner would actually stop me later on the road and bitch about the flight!\u00a0 Does he know that he\u2019s bitching at the one guy who actually goes out of his way to minimize his imagined risk????<\/h3>\n
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But here\u2019s my point:\u00a0 So often, the conversation among pilots is concerned with regs, when I think it should be about flight safety. \u00a0Howcum, we think that regs are so flippin\u2019 important.\u00a0They are not.\u00a0 What\u2019s important is that pilots should know how to maneuver their airplanes safely, not necessarily legally.\u00a0 I also think that it\u2019s really important to know the regs, whether or not you follow them.\u00a0 Because, you see, sometimes you might be legal, but you still won\u2019t win.\u00a0 And remember:\u00a0 The ones who write the rules, don\u2019t fly airplanes\u2026. They fly desks.<\/h3>\n