[schurmann]

“...As they taught us in flight school, behind every Federal Aviation Regulation there are a number of tombstones of those who would have lived if the FAR had been place at the time of their death.” [T.B. Yoits, post 29]

A gambit routinely resorted to in flight training programs.

CAA, and its descendant FAA, were charged with the dual mission of regulating civil aviation and promoting it. Can’t do both effectively at the same time.

The conceit that a centrally controlled agency staffed by bureaucrats can make risky activities like air travel completely safe and worry-free is a holdover from Progressivism. The combination of regulation and legal action has brought general aviation almost to a standstill; if not for homebuilts and kitplanes, progress would be nil.

[T.B. Yoits]

You can research the crashes that led to the FARs. Safety in the aviation industry was unacceptable until regulations were put in place that forced manufacturers to build safer equipment, airlines to control pilot training and behavior, and individual pilots to adhere to standards.

No one is saying that a "centrally controlled agency staffed by bureaucrats can make risky activities like air travel safe and worry-free". They're saying that someone has to make it safe, that a two-person crew was put in place for a reason, and going to one pilot is an unacceptable risk.