AREA PILOTS WOULD LIKE RULES ON AGE

Area aviators don't want any more federal regulations on ages of young pilots.

Following the fatal crash of a Cessna 177B Cardinal with 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff sitting alongside a licensed flight instructor, the Federal Aviation Administration indicated it would review rules governing when a pilot can allow an unlicensed passenger to fly a plane.

In Congress, Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn. chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, proposed legislation to bar children from flying. He didn't specify an age limit.

Dubroff, who hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country, was in her second day after leaving Half Moon Bay Airport in California Wednesday. Taking off from Cheyenne, Wyo., Thursday in a rain and snow storm, the four-passenger plane fell to the ground, killing the girl; her father, Lloyd Dubroff, 57; and flight instructor Joe Reid, 52.

"We don't need further rules," said Lou Saxauer of Sexauer Flying Service at Perryville. "The age doesn't matter, because it is the flight instructor who has sole and final responsibility for the safety of the plane and flight."

Young pilots can't solo until they are 16 and can't get a private pilot certificate until they are 17. Federal rules, however, don't set a minimum age for learning to fly, said Sexauer.

Students of any age can fly in the company of a certified flight instructor, who may let them operate the controls.

"Age doesn't matter, really," said Sexauer. "Responsibility and maturity do."

Greg Chenowith, manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport agreed. "I remember an 8-year-old girl from Kansas who made flying trips to every state from Kansas west," said Chenowith. "But there was no time pressure there."

Dubroff may not have been too young, said Chenowith. "She had her flight instructor next to her. The error could have been in taking off with the weather conditions at Cheyenne."

Wayne Anders, flight instructor for Air Evac Aviation at the airport here, said he wouldn't want to see age discrimination of flight students.

"Most youngsters don't have the physical abilities to fly a plane until they are 12 to 14 years of age," said Anders, one of four flight instructors at Air Evac. "I have seen some youngsters 9 and 10 who could do it."

At the same time, Anders said he had observed 40-year-old students who were not mature enough and lacked responsibility to be behind the controls of an airplane.

"You can't blame the little girl," said Jim Zimmer, manager of the Cairo Regional Airport. "People shouldn't overreact. It wasn't the girl's fault. She didn't make the decisions. The instructor is the pilot in command. "Age shouldn't matter," he said.

Zimmer said a 14-year-old student and his dad recently landed at the Cairo Airport with a goal of landing in every state.

"The student was sharp and knew what he was supposed to do," said Zimmer. "But he didn't have any pressure of making schedules."

Although some of the area aviators felt she was not too young, they said they would have urged the parents to wait for a while. "It's a waste of money," said Zimmer. "A 7-year-old is 10 years away from receiving a pilot's license."