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So, what is the real issue? What danger do single engine aircraft present to cities that are so unique that they must be restricted while we allow other aircraft, not to mention other vehicles or even vessels and railroad equipment to freely traverse the same area?

If anything positive comes from this accident, it is to prove that what the TSA and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has said all along. That is simply that light aircraft cannot carry enough weight of anything to do much damage to urban structures.

Of course, some damage was done. But we don't think of the damage that other vehicles regularly do to people and structures, indeed so much damage that when a SUV jumps the curb and ends up half buried in the front of a coffee shop it is only news for a few seconds at most. It certainly doesn't make the front page, even below the fold, of the NY Times.

We regularly allow thousands of trucks into cities that carry more weight in fuel than Cory Lidle's Cirrus weighed in total when fully loaded. We allow those trucks to pass by day care centers, playgrounds, to park next to hospitals, to sit in the street unguarded while the driver attends to the delivery. We don't give them a second thought.

It must also be realized that not all aircraft crashes in cities are of the same class as Lidle's Cirrus was. For example, in 1992, a fully loaded El Al Boeing 747-F crashed into two apartment buildings in an Amsterdam suburb, taking the lives of 43 people on the ground.

On November 11, 2001, an Airbus A310 operated by American Airlines crashed into a residential area of Long Island, killing 260 people.

Indeed, it would take decades of the occasional crash of light aircraft in urban areas to equal the death toll and damage done by just these two airline crashes. Yet, we never talk about restricting those aircraft.

But most importantly for people worried about the threat of light aircraft to cities. Just exactly what do you think will happen if we ever have to shoot a hijacked jumbo jet down with the F-16s that are flying air patrol? You worry about the "threat" presented by an aircraft that weighs less than a Honda Civic, yet expect the government to protect us by doing what? Shooting down a 1/2 million pound aircraft and not showing any concern over what will happen to many square blocks where the flaming wreckage will land.