H.A.S. I have read your posts on the video about the guy who crashed and also about taking passengers up. I find your viewpoints very interesting. I also find what you posted about having 6 engine outs and a catastrophic failure amazing, all while flying single seaters. Do you mind if I ask a little more about these situations? I have been flying for 40 years, most of that time as a professional pilot, and I don't think I have had as many engine failures as you. Were all of these engine failures in the same airplane? If so, I am curious as to what kind it was. What did you find as the cause of these failures? Please share your stories with us. Maybe we all can learn something from your experience.

I am also facinated by your posts on carrying passengers. I agree that if you don't feel comfortable carrying passengers until you have 500 or even a thousand hours, then you shouldn't. But if you are flying a single seat airplane how will you ever develop the experience of flying a two seater, even if that seat is empty. I would think it would be better to fly a two seater by yourself for awhile, so you could gain the experience to get you comfortable to fly with a passenger. Of course, if you have no desire to ever fly a passenger it doesn't matter. I have found aviation to be a lot like sex, it is more fun with a partner. :-) I applaud you for developing your own minimums regarding flying passengers and staying within them. I was very comfortable with the instruction I received and flew my first passenger just a few days after my PPL checkride. When I got my instrument rating, I used it to go on a pleasure trip very soon afterward that required flying through the clouds. If I hadn't felt comfortable doing this, I would not have. I believe that when anyone takes flying lessons they should be learning much more than just how to operate the controls. They should be learning about themselves, how they think and process information, what they are comfortable with and what makes them uncomfortable. I used to tell my students, when I was a flight instructor, that they have a gauge they carry around with them at all times. It is their gut. If it is talking to them, they should listen. If your gut tells you the weather ahead is more than you want to take on, do something about it. To the best of my knowledge, none of my students ever crashed. I really feel for the poor guy in that video. I bet his gut was yelling at him during the last few minutes of that flight.