“Not to mention that some in the FAA (or rather lobbyists/corporate types) would love to see General Aviation a lot more restricted than it currently is”
It’s as if there’s just too much freedom involved and they hate it. I read a statement years ago from the FAA that they wanted to go to a more “European” model. Bureaucrats love to restrict other people for whatever reason.
What amazes me is there are so many folks on FR that worship government and get really offended when you say “irresponsible things” like you don’t trust them and they lie. I’ve actually seen a female FAA employee (ex-Army helicopter pilot) scream in someones face that she was going to pull his license until the pilot pulled the FAR book out and showed the insane woman that he was right. I thought her head was going to explode.
It was kind of scary after 9/11 - there were some in the FAA that seemed to have sniffed blood in the water and were doing anything they could to discredit General Aviation, including dragging the FBI, etc., in and using them. It’s ironic that somebody who used to be a pilot is sitting in the White House and allowed that to happen.