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Some people, and some kids, flip out. I can't imagine a comfortable life in a world where we changed the rules every time someone flips. I doubt seriously you were interested in more gun control when kids flipped out and shot up schools, but then I don't recall talking with you about it.

Actually, Columbine and other school shootings just made me even more outspoken about the foolishness of gun-free zones and the need for firearms to protect children in schools. I found it quite educational to hear the actual reactions from some of the local soccer-mom types with the idea that their child's teacher or principal should be armed in case a nutjob started shooting.

My views are not, in this instance, reactionary but are longstanding. I've been a killjoy for decades. ; )

The minumum age for solo flight is 16. This kid broke the law. Would the kid have been stopped if the minimum age was 21?

Of course not. I haven't yet even seen any definite statement the kid was even a student pilot. He might have just been a joyrider who was trying out all that he learned in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 that he got for Christmas. It's actually difficult to believe that a student pilot with any amount of instruction could have flown into a building like this in daylight in normal weather. It would be easier to believe it was just a copycat suicide.

OK - so maybe I worried too much that your interest was in increasing the age that kids can learn to fly over this incident?

I told this story already on the other, more reasonabley titled thread "Plane Crashes Into Tampa Building" but maybe it fits here too.

"When I was in flight school we had a guy flip over a love gone bad, and "tried" to kill himself a number of times over months. We reported his suicidal behavior and got his medical pulled. It was a tough call for us to report him, because we did know it would ruin his career in aviation and he had made no actual threats to do something like this. We just thought he may decide his other methods were not working."

I don't know if we prevented anything or not! But we were nervous seeing him around the flight line knowing that the weekend prior he had slit his wrists in a friend's dorm room, or tried to gas himself in his car.

I guess I wish that those around this kid had been thinking. It would be rare for this act to have been the first sign of trouble, but maybe. Those around the school shooters have often had better hindsight than foresight.

Instead of being smart and observant of those around us, we instead often see reactions that try to treat everyone as a potential threat, spawning "zero-tolerance" rules that get girls kicked out of school for having nail files, and confiscation of swiss army knives at airports. the "success" rate of 9/11 had nothing to do with the weapons used.