Looking at the comments here–a SUGGESTION–"Why not take this opportunity for another AvWeb poll? Some suggestions:
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE FAA AND ITS ABILITY TO PROMOTE AVIATION SAFETY?
. Top rate–the FAA is doing a good job of promoting aviation safety.
. Second rate–the FAA is no better or worse than any other government agency or regulator.
. Third rate–it makes no difference who is in charge of the FAA–for all of the regulation, their actions make little practical difference to aviation safety (and can even be negative at times).
. Fourth rate–Government at its worst–vast over-regulation–no understanding of the industry it is tasked to regulate–actually holds back progress–a waste of billions of dollars.
. Fifth rate–“The government that governs BEST governs LEAST!”
. Sixth rate–Time for a second version of the “Boston Tea Party!”
“Don’t ask–don’t tell”–How many people that you know simply keep a low profile and continue to fly–doing their own maintenance–perhaps no medical–perhaps without even a license? (“After all, it worked with ultralights!”)
Not advocating any one of these positions–but pilots tend to be pretty anti-authoritarian and anti-big government. I can think of very few that think that the FAA is doing a GOOD job.
I have an over 60 year collection of aviation magazines. It’s enlightening to go through them, and look back to the creation of the FAA (from the CAA) and the dissatisfaction with government control over that time period. One finds VERY LITTLE mention of GOOD THINGS to say about the FAA over that time period–so FAA dissatisfaction is not a NEW THING.
C’MON, AvWeb–this is an excellent time to POLL YOUR READERS.