Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re:SUBSAFE

[SeaLordOne@aol.com]

Shipmates,

I concur with Doc's and Pat's take on the media and the federal regulators.  I am a federal regulator myself...I regulate commercial pilot training.  Here is my humble opinion:

In my 10+ years in this line of business, I have seen regulations generated by three primary sources.  First and most useful are those regulations that are born of the constant dialogue among the FAA, the industry, the manufactures, the airlines, the unions, etc.  Of considerably less utility are those regulations generated by the personal experiences of people in power, such as a congressman or senator.  When the relatives of those folks die in a plane crash, odd regulations are born.  

But the worst case scenario for generating regulations, in my humble opinion, comes from the reaction of congress to an event that receives heavy media attention....such as 9/11.  Their need to move quickly and to be seen as decisive usually prevents careful review of alternatives.  They shortcut the processes used in "option one" above, shortcutting the give-and-take, the checks-and-balances, that in my opinion give our demoncratic process its edge over other systems of government.  Government can be good or quick, but not both, when it comes to drafting regulations.

The feds are not currently that interested in back-yard submarine builders....so long as there are no terrorist potenitals.  They have bigger fish to fry.  But it would only take a couple of bad accidents and a story in Newsweek to bring the regulators crashing down upon our heads.  And it would only take about five minutes to change the rules...simply deleting the section that exempts not-for-hire submersibles from the prohibitively expensive certification requirements mandated in the case of for-hire submersibles.  A mere stroke of the pen.

So I am torn.  On the one hand, I do not like to see the folks in the Psubs community censoring our fellows.  That is not what we are about.  On the other hand, when folks make statements that seem to suggest that they are in way over their heads (no pun intended), I don't believe that we should pretend to feel comfortable.  Guys that have not done their homework put those who have done our homework at risk of losing our freedom to Psub.  Without the exemption for not-for-hire submersibles, most of us would be out of business.

So what to do?  I recommend that we continue to do what we always seem to do when new folks arrive whos' initial posts sound uninformed.  We should let people know when they are scary to us.  We should continue to be open to the opinions of many, and to learn from the diversity of the group.  But we should always let people know when they are scaring us.  There will be a few flames and a few hard feelings, but our entire enterprise will be at risk of we simply sit still when we hear scary things.  

The right to build Psubs is not guaranteed by the constitution...it is conferred by the Code of Federal Regulations.  It is a right that may be (effectively) withdrawn by the federal government with the stroke of a pen.  We keep that right, in my opinion, by keeping our noses clean.  We keep our noses clean, in part, by encouraging safety and preventing accidents.  We do that, in part, by setting a few basic norms and providing a little feedback when those basic norms seem to be ignored.  That is a restriction I, for one, can live with.

That is my two cents.  Thanks for listening.

Doug Farrow