Letters to the Editor
Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 14, 2014
Get drone regulations right, not fast
The Helicopter Association International, representing helicopter operators worldwide, agrees that the U.S. needs regulations governing the use of remotely piloted aircraft. But we respectfully disagree with The Bulletin’s position that the FAA needs to rush to finish the regulations.
The FAA’s primary mandate from Congress is the safe and efficient operation of the national airspace system. It is far more important that they get it right than that they simply get it done. Lives are at stake.
Perhaps more than any other aviation segment, our members, who often fly in the same low-altitude airspace that so-called drones will use, will be impacted by the coming regulations. Even recreational quadcopters and other small unmanned aircraft pose a risk. Anyone who has seen the results of a bird strike knows even something that small can cause catastrophic damage if it comes through a windscreen, gets ingested by a turbine engine or strikes a rotor or propeller.
Unmanned aircraft offer tremendous possibilities. We are excited by the technology and know that many of our members are looking forward to integrating it into their operations. But the FAA’s first priority must be the safety of pilots and passengers. The business opportunities of drones must take a back seat to safety. Therefore the regulations must be right, not rushed.
Matthew S. Zuccaro
President and CEO of Helicopter Association International in Alexandria, Va.
Too much praise cheapens its value
The editorial piece in The Bulletin on Nov. 26 by Orlando Barone, “Let’s hold the applause until it’s truly earned,” resonated with me.
Analogous to this excess of unwarranted glory is the recent spate of local high school “all-conference” teams. The Intermountain Conference girls soccer team is one example: About 38 girls were honored in a five-team league. That is, 70 percent of the starting (about) 55 players earned accolades. The coaches, in a desperate attempt to glorify many, cheapened the award for those who deserved acknowledgment. This tests the limits of logic and is fundamentally dishonest. Being named all-conference has become devalued into meaninglessness. Honors are dispensed like penny candy — if everyone is great then no one is great.
This American ethic of self-indulgence has led to an “entitlement generation” that gives our students an unhealthy sense of superiority. There is a price here. Young athletes can become blind with self-regard and less open to coaching/teaching. As well, an exaggerated sense of their abilities can lead to arrogance and a feeling of superiority.
“The keystone to human virtue is humility,” wrote C.S. Lewis. Maybe these well-meaning coaches and the indulgent parents who pressure them need to consider teaching the value of humility rather than glorification. Balance praise and criticism a bit more. We can’t fool these kids forever. They need to know that life is full of success and failure, victory and defeat, joy and despair.
Nothing, it seems to this old guy, is precious anymore; there is too much of everything.
Rick Burns
Bend
Letter targets wrong myth
Will Wame’s Nov. 12 In My View is correct in that myth is the reason we don’t have a reasonable conversation about gun control. But he is wrong about which myth is the culprit. The myth that stifles the debate is that unbridled capitalism is a good thing.
The NRA is controlled by the gun manufacturers, and any legislation that cuts into their profits will be opposed. It is this myth that is going to destroy the planet by putting the fossil fuel industry’s profits ahead of the environment. It is this myth that allows insurance companies to profit off the ill. It is this myth that caused pharmaceutical companies to not work on drugs to control Ebola because they are not as profitable as drugs that treat erectile dysfunction. It is this myth that gives the richest 1 percent more wealth, worldwide, than half the population of the world. It is this myth that says it is OK for the top 1 percent in the U.S. to gain 95 percent of the postrecession wealth while 90 percent of Americans lose wealth. It is this myth that privatizes prisons and schools.
Wame ends with words from the Declaration of Independence, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” What few Americans realize is that “pursuit of happiness” was not thought to be an individual thing but was meant as the happiness of society as a whole. This will never occur as long as we stick to the myth that unbridled capitalism is a good thing.
Michael T. McGinnis
Madras