Part 103 "congested" & Part 91?

[choppergirl]

I would argue, if nobody is hurt by you flying any distance away from anything, no crime has been commited. Anyone can write you a fine or charge you with anything, but it's a jury that decides, not the law, nor FAA wording in any paragraph anywhere.

A semi truck going 55mph in the opposite direction in the other lane from you on any two lane highway, while you are going 55mph and buckled in (or like me, on a motorbike), is about 100x more dangerous and a threat to the nebulous idea of "public safety" than someone flying 500 feet at 35mph over a school yard full of children. A 110 mph net aggregate collision with anything will kill you instantly; an engine out in an ultralight over a school yard and you glide to a safe landing with a non-spinning propellor in an empty baseball field, with no harm done to anyone but egg on your own face.

Semi-trucks and other cars pass each other a thousand times a second around the world.... it's that common.... and for the most part, without incident.... on public roads, for all the public to enjoy (the public being an interesting legal concept all unto its own - you don't even have to be a citizen to be the public... foreigners can use them just as well (as you can you use roads when you are in foreign countries), and public things (such as roads or public buildings or lands) are not "owned" the state, contrary to popular opinon, but by an almost undefined construct called "the public" that probably goes back to Roman times or older.... "for the use and benefit of all humanity"). The sky is the same... unless and until you run into something, or be a totally annoying douche... (for example, driving the wrong way in traffic on a road) then no harm, no foul. Even those yellow lines on the road, the stop sign, the traffic light... they are there as a helpful guide for everyone, not an absolute brick wall you can't cross, or drive through, when your out in the desert and there is absolutely no other traffic around.

The skies are a commons for everyone to enjoy. Let's keep it that way. Stop penciling imaginary absolutist lines in the sky, or yellow splotches on maps, and creating crimes where they do not exist. Unless (or until) you hurt someone, no crime has been committed. I'm on the jury and I determine what's right or wrong, not a law or paragraph written by anybody anywhere.

My great grandfather flew P-39's, P-47's, and P-38s and got shot up to defend freedom (or I prefer to think, he chose it because it was the lesser of two evils at the time), and it's sad that people just do not care about sticking up for freedom at all anymore, but are extremely compliant and will bend over backwards to live in fear and blindly obey anything they are told by anyone or read anywhere.

My own personal anecdote:

I remember when I was a little kid, I must of been in 7th grade. I went to a school which was very polarized... you had the snotty kids clic and then you had everyone else. I was one of the "everyone else". Anyway, one day one of the snotty boys told a girl who was not one of the clic that she couldn't play on the monkey bars, they were for "them only". I stood up for the girl and stood my ground, and told him flatly, the monkey bars were for everyone to enjoy.

Well, we kept arguing at it, this back and forth, he wouldn't back down, nor would I, and a huge crowd gathered around us egging us on for a fight which just escalated the situation that much further. I don't think either one of us had a clue how to fight, and I am sure I was scared as hell as was he, but there was no way I was backing down. I was in the right. I didn't know it at the time, but I was sticking up for what is know as the "commons". Fortunately, the bell for the end of recess rang, and saved both of us from a thunderdome brawl, but for several weeks after that, I watched my back. Not watching for him, but rather the whole dangerous snotty kids gang.

I didn't know it at the time, but I earned a boat-ton of respect from a bunch of the kids "not in the clic". Suddenly, I was their champion. They and the monkey bars are all gone now, but you want to know the best part? Decades later I still remember it, and I am still fiercely proud of it. Some silly moment in 2nd grade.

I wish more people would have the simple courage I had as a 2nd grader, and defend the commons. They belong to you. They belong to me. They belong to everyone. I didn't know it at the time, but that little moment changed my life, and it wouldn't be the last time I drew a line in the dirt against bullies and stood up for freedom against bullies. Just because someone tells you you have to do something or obey, does not mean it's in your or everyone's best interest to do so. They usually have some less than savory agenda.

Be smart, enjoy the skies, use common sense while flying, but don't live in fear of a bunch of hallway monitors and bullies. You'll be running around trying to appease them for the rest of your life if you do so... Just ask the Germans about WW2, and how bending backwards to follow the rules and appease the bullies and the ruling gang in power worked out for them...