No License just fly

Doesn't matter to me whether he filed in advance or got a pop-up. If he's operating within the system and has the skills and knowledge to do so, I couldn't care less whether he's legal. That's between him and the FAA. The ones I'd turn in in a heartbeat are the ones ATC calls out to me, "VFR traffic 12 o'clock 2 miles, same altitude", when I know darn well it's solid IMC.

I disagree Azure, they both tick me off. Even operating in the system could cause problems, like delay your approach for instance, close the airport if he crashes, etc. I know all that is probably unlikely but still it bothers me. I talked to this guy to no avail, but I didn't report him. Maybe I should have. Spilled milk now.
 
I don't think we really disagree - if he's incompetent and creating a potential hazard, then he would tick me off too. As I said in my first post, I might even drop a dime on him in that case. The thread was originally about pilots operating illegally, so I was trying to focus on the case where the only thing someone is doing wrong is operating without the needed slip of paper. Your story got my attention because the guy was actually operating in the system. For a VFR-IMC scofflaw, that seems pretty rare.
 
I met people in the U.S. flying without an official blessing before. One was a fellow student who was made to get his ticket by his new employer, Bendix-King. He already had hundreds of hours off-log and took his checkride at 40 official hours (I needed 72).

I also met people flying without a license or certificate legally, under the authority of Part 103. One never even had an instructor. He graduated from weight-shift. Now that gentleman is also a negative example. Last time we talked, he took off in his Qucksilver MXL and a bolt fell out that connected his elevator and pushrod. Now losing an elevator entirely would be a problem for me. He was entirely unperturbed and landed using throttle to maintain pitch. Benefits of experience, I guess. But I strongly suspect that he forgot to install a cotter pin properly and was too complacent to check all nuts before the first flight after re-assembly. Although, don't we all know a fully certificated pilot who took off with a gust lock in place? I wish I could claim that a little piece of plastic protected against negligence.
 
Years ago I was up at Big Lake, AK. did a prebuy on a plane noticed a J-3 with what appeared to be Chev mag wheels on it. I asked the local FBO IA what was that, he said half the planes up their haven't had an annual since they got their and half the pilots had no license. Is it still that way in out of the way airports in AK. Are their any other states that seem to have the anything goes.

I guess it's ok to fly without a certificate or annual as long as you don't get caught. :p
 
There is plenty of illegal flying going on down here too if people actually look for it.

Well technically it's illegal to fly with passengers at night if you haven't had 3 takeoff/landings within the last 90 days, but I'm sure people have done it. It's also illegal to fly through clouds, but I think we've all done that at some point or another. :D
 
There is plenty of illegal flying going on down here too if people actually look for it.

I live in SE AK and can't say I know anyone who breaks the regulations. Not saying it does not happen.
 
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