whirledtraveler

Or so says the US Code:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/script...e=49&sec=40103
Please bookmark this thread so that we can put to rest the notion that there is no right to fly.

Superguy

Sure we all have the right ... we just need a private plane to use that right.

Lehava

And as soon as we grow wings we can use that right without rules put on us!!! Til then I think its still their ball!

Superguy

I think his point was that flying is indeed a right, not the privilege that some make it out to be.

While the right may have some rules, they shouldn't be too restrictive (ie yelling fire in a crowded auditorium isn't protected as free speech), but it also shouldn't be arbitrarily removed without due process of the law.

GUWonder

Flying is no more a privilege than walking is. Movement is instrumental to freedom; whether that movement be by land, air or water does not alter the fundamental right of free persons to move through the public space in one's own country, through all those countries willing to permit it, or through international space (including international waters, airspace, etc.). The means of doing so or not doing so is another matter. That is, growing wings (or not) neither enhances nor diminishes the fundamental right to movement through public spaces.

Spiff

Hear, hear!

Perhaps we should take up a collection to get the OP's US Code selection tattooed on Comrade-Secretary Chertoff's traitorous forehead. @:-)

PoliceStateSurvivor

My understanding of this article is that the Government can impose regulations needed to protect public safety.

Most of us agree that double-SS, shoe carnival, ID checks, etc. do nothing for safety or security. Therefore, these forms of harrassment are illegal.

J-M

OP is twisting that section of code. That's related to the use of airspace (IE, the right to operate an aircraft in that airspace within the regulations). This is a completely different issue from a person purchasing a ticket on a private airline to provide transportation within the airspace. The right extends to the airline, not the traveller.

Lehava

Exactly! Which was my (missed) point about growing wings! If you can get yourself unaided (either with a private plane or figuring out how to fly - growing wings) through the airspace then yes this applies....you have a right to use the space. However if you need someone else to get you through that space you are subject to any rules they (or any agency they choose to work in consort with) wish to implement. Getting on an airline's plane is NOT a right!!!!

GUWonder

The right to free movement extends to the traveller with the means for travel, including with the means to travel on common carriers. Whether that traveller be an airline entity (including airline owner) or an individual person (including fare-paying passenger) with or without wings matters not, for the right is the right. Nothing privileged about that.

J-M

You can certainly believe that if you want to, but that does not change the actual meaning of the section of code you quoted.

If what you are claiming is true, then I could show up to the airport piss-...-drunk and I could demand to get on the airplane. Afterall, it's my right!!!

Superguy

Please. That's '"piss-..." poor analogy if I ever saw one. There are laws about public drunkenness that are violated before one even gets to the plane.

Lehava

Going with the reasoning in this thread those laws dont matter, you still have a (claimed) RIGHT to fly. And by definition a right can not be regulated.

Superguy

Not quite. Rights have some regulation, but not very much.

Everyone care bear arms. Some guns may require registration, there's a waiting period, and if you want to carry it concealed, you need a permit but the end result is the same: the right cannot be taken away except by due process of the law. Meaning you have to be convicted of an offense serious enough to warrant having the right stripped from you.

Everyone has the right to freedom of speech. No one is stopping anyone from yelling fire in a crowded room. Yet there are consequences for causing panic and public disorder if there is no fire.

Any regulation takes place to ensure that the exercising of a right does not infringe on someone else's rights.

And furthermore, let's take a look at privilege. My drivers license can't be taken from me without due process of the law. It can be suspended pending a hearing for certain offenses (DUI and reckless driving, for example), but I still have to appear before a judge. No such thing exists when you get the "take your shoes off or you don't fly" schpeil.

J-M

You don't like that one huh? Well how about those pesky Contracts of Carriage (contract between a private individual and a private business). Those sure infringe on the so-called "right" to fly.