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Hey, I hate the FAA as much as the next guy ;-), and I do agree they make our airplanes, and our maintenance costs, higher than they need to be. But I don't think they get all, or even most, of the blame for high insurance costs. Sure, maybe high cost of repairs you could trace to them (or to the inherent costs of the low volume business that is aviation these days, which traces to fuel costs), but much of our high insurance costs come from our widowed spouses and others suing the pants off of anyone in sight and winning big awards, that those of still alive have to pay for. And even if they don't win, the costs of defending the suits are astronomical.
Fix our legal system to make it less generous to our bereaved, less costly to participate in, and our insurance costs will go down.
How? That's a subject for another forum...but it won't be easy.
And before someone replies blaming the lawyers, let me say that IMCO, individual lawyers are acting rationally and ethically within our legal and capitalist systems. If the legal system was changed, it would be less profitable to be a lawyer, and there would be less of them. I don't blame bright people today who find they can acquire a skill that society will reward them very handsomely for. I blame ALL of us for not changing the system.
End of rant. :-) Sorry Richard, not trying to hassle you, just taking aim at a very common perception that the FAA is responsible for ALL of our ills, rather than just some of them.
Now, if you want to talk about each individual GPS installation requiring a field approval, that is a pile of crap I would cheerfully lay in front of the FAA's door. Oops, that's another rant...
Kevin
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