Harrison Ford Improperly Crosses Runway, Air Traffic Control Pissed

MCPO Roger Collins Much like drunk driving, he will probably be okay, but hurt or kill others. Saw too much crap when I was working on my Private Pilot license in Florida...

LT Brad McInnis - In my opinion, Controllers are "part of the team"-they keep us alive when it counts, and I wouldn't want their job for any amount of compensation. Personally, I think Ford screwed the pooch, and his flying history to date offers at least some speculative evidence that the "Force" may not be with him... at least not all of the time. What I generally "hate" (possibly too strong of a word) about the profession is both the inconsistency and dogmatic ruthlessness of how some rules are applied. Some pilots just need more experience and/or training... maybe "suspension" or mandatory remedial training. Some probably do need their tickets pulled... but everyone can have a bad day (or two... or three... or)

LT Brad McInnis - Flying is a technical skill and as long as you can do a short field landing, master 45 degree turns, and repeat what the tower says, getting your ASEL is not overly difficult. Same goes there are college grads you could convince jet airplanes that the prop needs to be hand started and would push the yoke forward to go.

LCDR Joshua Gillespie - With you on that. I flew out of an airport on a little island. We had to dodge sailboats while on final. One day, a DR who had a souped up aerobatic airplane was letting a 16 year old kid with no experience land. Needless to say, the plane clipped a mast on final, cartwheeled halfway down the runway. DR broke both wrists, and the 16 YO had massive injuries that would preclude him playing sports again. FAA investigated, and got pressure from the area because the pilot spread quite a bit of money around. He didn't even get a suspension. Only had to get his medical redone to make sure he was still medically cleared to fly...

LT Brad McInnis - That seriously sux. I guess I'm a bit "jaded" because I've know one or two guys literally have their lives ruined over comparatively "minor" incidents. I knew this one guy (specifics left vague to protect the innocent) who was finishing up a the FRS for multi-engine turboprop. He was with an IP doing single engine approaches...all was going great. Time to come home, whomever was PIC didn't take the rudder trim out for single engine operation, and they ended up tearing off some of their undercarriage. No injuries, AC was back up on the line in 24 hours. Bubba lost his wings, his wife, and his career inside of a couple months of being winged. Knew another guy who fresh out of AF type training, boned up some bingo numbers, resulting in an AC-130 having to land at an "unsecured" field... with plenty of fuel in the tanks, just not enough to land per regs and be high enough above limits. Once again, wings clipped, probably got sent to a missile silo for a year or two before being booted out. Just seems that with that much time, expense, and effort... some people can be "re-fitted" rather than "scuttled".