I'm admittedly way too drunk at the moment to take on this entire message, but let me provide a summation - I don't have anything against home builders - in fact, I respect them simply because I don't have a pair big enough to fly anything I've built myself.
But anytime someone crashes a GA a/c into a home, it hurts our obsession - it makes it that much more difficult to justify a freedom that the public allows us to have. That's right - none of us has a right to fly over someone's home - we're given the opportunity to do so, as long as we strive to do it in a safe and respectful manner.
Here it is plane and simple - I don't ever want to be in a situation where my ability to fly a manufactured, meticulously inspected a/c over an urban area is brought into question because some yahoo forgot to tighten a few bolts while building his own a/c in his garage. Before you lay into me - I know, the majority of home builders are careful and considerate. That being said, they don't have the same liability that a manufacturer does - and they also don't have a group of people making decisions - they have one.
I see limiting home builts to non-congested areas as a compromise. It's something that we give back to the public for them to allow us to fly manufactured a/c over their homes. It's a fine balance, but we're in the minority - and as long as we show that we're more interested in the safety of the public than our own autonomy, they'll continue to allow us to pursue our passion.
Too drunk to finish - hopefully that got my point across.
