Let me guess, it's all in the name of 'FREEDOM' hahaha. What was it Dr. Goebbels said about repeating a lie often enough? If you keep telling them they're 'FREE' and bang on an on about 'FREEDOM' then the masses will believe it, even though everyday the powers take a little bit more away from you...............
Whaat?? I don't know the systems of a typical Citation or Lear, but I can assure you that the P.I.C. is always very experienced - unless you hire him and grab the first shmuck coming out of flight school, and the planes are totally safe. More so that the airlines, because a small jet is more maneuvrable, can fly higher and can land even on a short strip, something the big birds cannot do.
Hijacks, bombings and crashings are part of the risk when travelling with airplanes. Current statistics are so ridiculously low that no changes are needed in the security policies. I think we can deal with the risk. You're safer on a plane than in a car, like it or not. If you travel by plane, you have a (extremely low) chance of landing in a skyscrapper. That's life, deal with it. Guaranteed safety does not exist and can not exist. Governments don't get re-elected on these concepts though especially since 90,9% of the population is unable to cope with basic probability concepts. Ninna
No, it can not... as long as the paasenger knows where to hide stuff. Watch a video I linked earlier in this thread http://gizmodo.com/5454626/naked-airport-body-scanner-sees-everything-but-the-bomby-parts
The problem with small airplains is most of them are not designed to fly at high altitude. This means there is no mechanism against ice covering wings in flight. If in extreme weather conditions icing does occur, an airplain may fall down like a stone... unless the pilot does something they don't teach in ordinary flight school. Modern large jets have 3, 4 or more engines. Many of them are capable of completing the flight even if 2 of engines break. Some of the smaller jets may not have this level of redundancy. Another thing is plains, like anything else, are prone to have design deffects. It takes a lots of flights to discover these deffects. Further, these may be expensive to fix. In 1960s a plain had a door deffect. Sometime teh door would not lock properly though it would appear lock to the crew. When this happened, the air stream in flight could rip the door off together with a few nearby passenger seats. It took half a dozen accidents and major airlines stopping flying this model of the jet till the manufacturer recognised there was a problem and attempted to fix it. Similarly, recently the new Airbus super-jumbo jet had an engine catching fire. It will take ages to investigate. Popular jet models like Boing 737 had most of these dffects ironed out aver time. It doesn't always happen on smaller plains. (See examples above.) Regarding pilots' experience (and pay)... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?postid=2802662#post2802662
Again: whaat?? I'm a private pilot as well with instrument rating, so I know a bit about airplanes too. Not designed to fly high?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_45 Service ceiling: 51,000 ft (15,545 m). No wide-body can get up there. And it's not the only one. And they do have anti-icing, de-icing devices on the wings as well. Small jets always have 2 or more engines, and if one fails the other has plenty of power to keep it up safely. Avionics: pretty much the same as the big ones with redundancy. Design defects: this is just ridiculous. Every certified aircraft has been thoroughly and extensively tested on the ground and in the air as well. The FAA has evolved since the '60s, and so has the airline industry. Aircraft designs are now proven and totally reliable. Engine fires? Statistically, it's a non-event. Many jet engines have logged millions of flight time with absolutely no malfunctions whatsoever. Seriously, stop this nonsense.
I'm sure there are miracles of design among small plains as well as large plains. My point was solely that you don't expect this kind fo luxury in every model of small plain while in large passenger jets these come as standard. No testing absolutely guarantees absence of defects... or airplains would never fail. Engineers just make design choices that minimise the consequences of a potential failure. I believe your word that testing stadards have improved in the last 50 years.
We have 45,000 screeners all convinced to molest grandma and children. Our gov't has the best kool aid.