[HPforGrownups] Identifiable flying object / Pilots afraid of heights

[JM]

No: HPFGUIDX 35900

> At 7:16 AM -0500 2/28/02, Edblanning at aol.com wrote:
> >
> >Didn't Arthur Weasley frame the act?
>
> Er - which act?  Ron and Harry stealing the car, or Sirius's "framing"?
>

The Muggle Protection Act I believe is attributed to Aurthur Weasly and
seems to be the one that banned enchantment of muggle artificacts since he
wrote the loophole that made his car legal.

> >The Beauxbatons carriage couldn't be mistaken for a muggle artefact,
which is
> >the basis of the law.
>
> Not at the moment, but at some point in the past it _could_ have
> been.  Everything we have seen used for flying thin the Potterverse
> either is a Muggle artifact or was one at some point.
>
> Harrumph.  It seems to point up a lack of crativity on the wizarding
> world's part, doesn't it?  After all, when the Muggles finally
> decided to fly, they built something entirely new - hot air balloons,
> then airplanes.  But the wixards have to keep borrowing.  Now,
> presumably this was originally for security reasons - but that seems > to
have changed.

I agree that originally it was for security reasons, but that in general
Wizards seem prefer hiding and minimal interaction. And I do think it was
Aurthur Weasly that banned the use of muggle artifacts, the department he
works in probably dealt more with incidents involving muggles getting a hold
of them... as it still does.

As for wizards copying Muggles... well, why not? Muggle devices have to
follow laws of physics, airplanes need wings to fly. Hot air balloons need
to be ... well... a balloon.

<snip of a lot of other interesting commentary>

>
> >Eloise, who has a tendency towards vertigo, doesn't like speed, has
enough
> >trouble with horses, even of the non-flying variety and  certainly
wouldn't
> >dream of trying a broomstick or a carpet. Far too scary.
>
> I'm acrophobic myself.  Apportation seems a much better deal.


Over 90% of pilots (in the US anyway where the vast majority of the world's
pilot's train) suffer from Acrophobia. Compared to 6-10% of the population.
Acrophobia tends to stem from a sense that there is a lack of control of the
situation while all the descriptions of flying a broomstick are that it
grants more control than pilotting a muggle plane.

Of course there's also the theory that pilots are control freaks to begin
with and that causes acrophobia instead of the control eliminating it.
*shrug*


--
JM
Who has trouble climbing a ladder but no trouble flying a plane.