John Harvey on Dan Davies - "Back of Mind"

Hi Mike: I grew up in a conservative family, grew up hero-worshipping W. F. Buckley. Outgrew that. I didn't know anything then, I am not to blame, I swear. I grew up reading the Wall St. Journal, I didn't know other ideas existed! Turns out, they do. I have seen both sides now. Conservatives and the GOP are PLENTY good at saying NO. They just say different nos. Sample: "Oh, you employees want to have a union? NO, plus you're fired!" People who have position and power like to keep them. Don't get me started. BTW One of my life rules is never fly with a low-time pilot. I know what it is like to be one. I like BIG airplanes flown by people with lots of hours, and BIG airports. Sorry, Midway. After that CJR wingtip scrape at LGA the other day, with a young female pilot at the controls, I was actually wondering how accident records of male and female pilots compared, so I went to Dr. DuckDuckGo. Turns out this has been studied, probably by a part of the government that the chainsaw guy would eliminate. They are about the same. Females are more cautious than males, so get into fewer bad situations, but males are better at operating the controls. Overall, about a wash. If DOGE actually wanted to know about flight safety, they could start by calling Dr. John Hansman, professor of aeronautics at MIT, who used to be a member of the soaring club I was in. An actual expert, not just a guy playing one on TV. They should do so before jumping to conclusions. https://aeroastro.mit.edu/people/r-john-hansman/ BTW, techies do not always make good pilots, I have observed some in action. I have known my share of techies. Emotionally immature. And good at means; bad at ends. Also: doctors are bad pilots. We know that. The only pilot my airport ever told could never fly there again was a male child psychologist. This was after a crash he wouldn't take responsibility for. That just reminded me of another guy, a male airline pilot, who had a landing "incident," and tried to hush it up so the airline wouldn't find out. The cherry on top was an owner of the airport, another male airline pilot, who claimed a landing accident was not a flying accident...because it happened on the ground! He probably blamed his wife... What's with these males? they have bad judgement. At least I stopped flying before I hurt myself...LOL