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"I'm well aware of the need for that kind of regulation"

As to when and where you can fly, private pilots aren't regulated -- by that I mean, as long as you stay out of controlled airspace, you can take off and land and fly wherever you want without federal control, correct?

So, your intrastate activities are not regulated by the federal government. Only when those intrastate activities have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, does the FAA get involved.

I'm not a pilot, so excuse me if I oversimplified. But I hope you see the general point I'm trying to make.

you can take off and land and fly wherever you want without federal control, correct?

I can't. Federal law says I'd have to go see a doctor and get a current medical and then go see a flight instructor for a flight review signoff before I could take a passenger. There are some more rules if I did it at night.

Even in those places, you have to have a federal license. There are federal rules about airplane maintenance. Some ultralights and hang gliders and stuff were exempt, last I knew, but that was pre-9/11. You have to maintain a certain distance from people and their stuff. There are still some rules related to weather. There may still be some unregulated aircraft in unregulated places, but all airplane flying is subject to some federal regulation.

I don't have any problem with the idea of federal aviation regulations. I don't even have a problem with those rules reaching a flight across Florida in a private plane. In some parts of the state, you could even fly from one private airstrip to another and remain in uncontrolled airspace, if you stay low enough. Your flight might go over my house, and I can't stop you, just like I can't stop you going up the navigable river. The feds can make that kind of rule. The feds can also regulate aspects of your flight route, your training, and your plane, for the same reasons they can regulate river traffic, mainly safety.

This is more fun when we disagree, but you'll have to look elsewhere for someone who opposes federal aviation regulations.