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Comment by the__alchemist | Hacker News Reader

It is interesting how the GA planes today have a fraction of the power of WW2 planes. I understand there are valid reasons, but... it would be too cool to fly something with the original power!

Also, even with modern jets: "This plane has enough power at max or mil" - said no fighter pilot ever.

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Well, the reason is that the vast majority of GA pilots could not handle the performance of a WWII fighter and would get themselves and others killed.

When i was in ground school in San Diego, the instructor explained that just what you said was the reason so few p51 mustangs still exist. Folks bought them cheap as surplus, rotated (wheels off the ground), would gun the huge engine whose torque at low air speed would counterrotate the fuselage and crash.

No, the reason is that GA pilots have to pay for their fuel.

That too, but GA pilots are notorious for overestimating their competence. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real. Doing touch-and-gos a few times a month in a C172 does not prepare one for handling high-performance fighter aircraft.

I used to work in Search and Rescue and the number of GA pilots who do bone-headed things getting themselves or others killed would shock you.

Yes, but there are already higher performance aircraft available beyond a Cessna and pilots still flock to what they can afford.

There is no regulation preventing aircraft manufacturers from selling GA performance beasts. There is just not a big enough market to sell into to make it sustain a business.

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