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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

I still dream about it. And it's 20 years ago. That guy and his buddies caused us so much misery it isn't funny.

Another Bauer story; prior to the investment: he had fear of flying, and was an asshole to the people that he perceived as lower on the social ladder than himself. So when he was nasty to the stewardess on a very small airplane (10 seater, twin prop) flying from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo and the pilots caught on to his fear they got their revenge on him by doing all kinds of borderline legal aerobatics with the plane.

Bauer and I were the only passengers, I had a great time but made sure to sit where it was safe. He was as white as a sheet when we landed, and made a great point of being polite to the stewardess on the way back.

One asshole deflated, props to those pilots (pun intended) for standing up for their colleague.

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Great story. During my life I've found that assholes of the narcissistic kind have fears or insecurities that clash with their bravado posturing (e.g., a primal fear of dogs, flying, paranoia of being talked about behind their back, cheated on, moving away from their hometown, being seen as bad dressers -- those are the ones I remember). I have always found this odd. I know nothing about psychology, but maybe there's a correlation there?

>One asshole deflated, props to those pilots (pun intended) for standing up for their colleague.

so, someone was socially rude, so some pilots decided to risk the lives of everybody on board to teach a lesson.

Aerobatics , even if 'borderline-legal', are still more stressful on the plane and components.

Stress still causes early failure, even if the stress was produced with legal maneuvers.

Hopping curbs in a passenger car is not usually illegal, it'll just destroy the car prematurely.

Spontaneous aerobatics still risk injury from gravity-flung objects in the cabin.

So, i'm glad the person you dislike had a lesson taught. I'm less glad that the crew acted unprofessionally.

I'm very glad that no incidents occurred as a result. The sky isn't the place for revenge and vengeance, especially on passenger flights.

I really hope that the crew has matured since then. There are plenty of ways companies and professionals can refuse service without risking collateral damage like that.

You're assuming that trained pilots somehow had no idea what they could safely do in their aircraft. Why?

The problem is that they put everyone lives at risk. It doesn't matter how convinced you are of your abilities if your life and the life of others is at immediate risk (like in a plane or on a bus)

Noone's life was at risk. It was just mildly more exciting than a normal flight and well within the range of permitted stresses on that particular plane.

GGP made an assumption and then reacted to that assumption as though it was a fact. We weren't doing loopings or Immelmans, just a couple of nice steep banks and a pretty steep ascent/descent. If the plane would have not been able to handle that it shouldn't have been flying in the first place. I've been through lots worse in single engine GA planes in rural Canada.

question : would the pilots be at fault if the victim of the prank had suffered a heart attack or stress-related stroke due to the thrill-ride?

Not legally, morally.

I tend to think so, given that creating a thrill-ride is outside the scope and purview of being a private pilot.

A professional, acting outside the scope of his profession, who seems to be acting with malice or disregard creates a situation that could quite literally kill a person who has certain conditions (even unknowingly).

>Noone's life was at risk.

I can't do the mental acrobatics that are necessary to see that as a zero risk situation.

It's not just the airframe that the pilot is tasked with worrying about, the safety of the occupants comes first.

Relax.

Wow, have you been keeping that un-ground axe in your back pocket for a while or something?

If planes cannot maneuver in the air without significant fear of fatal injury they should (and would) not be flying.

This goes beyond your comment: but sometimes it feels like there is a growing tendency to value safety - or perceived safety - over the rest of our humanity.

Does that second paragraph make sense?

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