FAA doing ramp checks at SnF

[DavidWhite]

From FB:

I just read that the FAA is doing ramp checks on display planes at Sun N Fun. A guy on Van's Air Force posted that there are three Harmon Rockets with FAA stickers on them, telling them to contact the FSDO.

Can't these people find something productive to do with their time?

 

[Jim Logajan]

Since the carnage of wrecked planes and dead people has gone down significantly since 1958, you are denying reality, and that leads me to believe you are only trolling here.

The accident rate has steadily declined because the number of regulations has steadily increased?

Would this also be the case with the steady decline in the accident rate for automobiles?

The cost of electronics has exponentially declined over the same period - yet it seems to be mostly unregulated. Could it be, then, that regulation bends what would otherwise be exponential improvements so they become merely linear ones?

Me, I happen to think it is forum fodder, not proper logic, that tries to ascribe any sort of simple link between government regulation and safety.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Because without adequately-visible N-numbers, it's harder to enforce some safety regulations. And with less enforcement, there tends to be less compliance, which compromises safety.

Ya got trouble folks, right here in River City!
Friends, a small N-number is the devil's playground!

 

[Jim Logajan]

I didn't say that, so please don't suggest I did.

You did not say that. However, there seemed to be an implication of some causal link between the amount of regulation and the accident rates, else why mention the two together at all?

As far as I can tell, all forms of transportation have seen a decline in fatal accident rates over the time periods measured in the reports and research papers I've browsed (typically covering the last 50 years). It seems unlikely for example, that increased regulation or policing was the cause for the large decline in pleasure boating accident rates over the period shown in the graph. (Graph below is from http://cgmarinesafety.blogspot.com/2011/06/recreational-boating-accident.html)

Better technology, ergonomics, and application of social psychology to encourage safer operation all seem to me to be likelier causes of such a decline than greater maritime regulation or policing.

The FAA might see better results by employing its finite resources on loosening up its regulatory grip that generates cynicism that slows application of psychological efforts and also inhibits more prompt deployment of better technology and ergonomics.