Yes. Instruction allowed again from May 11 for all flying 
We are discussing “back to work” in our local flying and gliding clubs where the majority view is that it is safer, as a club, to follow than to lead.
A minority view, shared by yours truly, is that just as we (public opinion) led our politicians into the “lockdown”, our duty now is to lead the wee sleekit cow’rin tim’rous beasties back from the brink of ruin to some semblance of economic and social activity.
As far as currency is concerned I think there’s a safety case for getting (at least) some instructors back in the air, even if only for a couple of flights, but that’s a club decision well above my pay grade.
My own view is that maintaining currency is worth the (minimal) risk of being slagged off for not staying at home. I’ve done plenty of the latter in the past four weeks (much work improving the hangar and maintaining aircraft), but also about 11 hours of the former – albeit with fewer landings than usual.
Jacko wrote:
A minority view, shared by yours truly, is that just as we (public opinion) led our politicians into the “lockdown”, our duty now is to lead the wee sleekit cow’rin tim’rous beasties back from the brink of ruin to some semblance of economic and social activity.
By my observation people in the western US have over the last 2-3 weeks have decided to ignore the ‘stay at home order’ – so it’s over if you want it to be over. Many people do seem interested in maintaining their distance, and most are respectful of that. It’s a balance of power framed by the police having never shown any interest in enforcement.
It’s been interesting for me watching road traffic volume. Traffic dropped rapidly, but now increases gradually. Commuting traffic appears normal but once you get off the main roads it’s light – I don’t know where people are going. My job is judged as “critical” so by choice I haven’t missed a commuting day so far in this situation. In relation to US flying, the FAA have only ever said that while maintaining airport operations is their principal interest, it was acceptable to them if some local airports reduce operations based on limited period local laws. Knowing where their money comes from, only a few have done that.
Silvaire wrote:
It’s a balance of power framed by the police having never shown any interest in enforcement.
Which, as universal and widespread as it is, is plain stupid on the enforcement / lawmaker side. Why make a rule you will not enforce? To clamp down and start fining people when you decide you feel like it? Or to selectively apply it against people you deem troublemakers? I’d much rather have clear, reasonable rules to work within, or around, than a “non enforcement” policy based on how someone feels when I run into them.
100 % agree. That is what I call “Italian lawmaking”; Italians may forgive me, but I think you know what I mean. It is the principle of making rules, and tightening them when you see they are not being followed, to the point where the rules become so absurdly strict that enforcement becomes selective because everyone would be somehow in breach. Also, burying the rules in such obscure texts that nobody knows them entirely anymore, but if you want to dig out something against someone you will always find a convenient paragraph.
Which in the end means nobody follows rules anymore unless they are somehow socially enforced.
The police and their leadership have little interest in enforcement because the documented legal basis for ‘shelter in place’ etc is very weak. With that in mind they are more concerned with their own exposure to the virus, and they also don’t want to create a situation with the public that would further threaten their health.
You might remember that a lot of Italians immigrated to the US, along with the English, Irish and Germans. 
Americans will not regardless respect a great deal of external authority in their lives, unless it results from democratic process backed up by a balance of power. Government is ‘us’ but is understood to be only a tiny distance from being ‘them’, eternally. In this situation, I think many states have pushed over that line and are now seeing the results.
You see much the same thing with tax law, we calculate our own taxes based on legal requirements, but based on our own records (not submitted) with only the fear of audit preventing us from paying whatever we want. It actually works out quite well – there are limits on how hard you can push people when they calculate their own taxes, because only a tiny fraction of the tax returns can be audited. There is also a reason that the USD is considered the safe haven currency.
In this situation I’d rather have no ‘maybe legal, maybe not’ emergency ‘direction’ at all, but if there is one I’d rather that the people have the opportunity to show they don’t approve before the situation becomes violent – which in the US it will, eventually. This is a country where public violence is understood to be a possibility and some of us like it that way, within limits.
Complete thread drift :
Silvaire wrote:
we calculate our own taxes based on our own records with only the fear of audit preventing us from paying whatever we want. It actually works out quite well
You couldn’t believe how it works here now :
Silvaire wrote:
some of us like it that way, within limits
Ha, but then who sets these limits? You, McVeigh or perhaps Kaczynski (couldn’t resist that one, sorry) or perhaps, for a different point of view, Ghandi?
Let’s leave it as a rhetorical question, please, as it has nothing to do with aviation nor COVID.
" I think there’s a safety case for getting (at least) some instructors back in the air, "
There may be a problem with the UK furlough rules. I’m told the local Flying School/Maintenance staff are furloughed. Some are also airline pilots.
Jujupilote wrote:
You couldn’t believe how it works here now :government takes money on the payroll,
sends an email to say how much they will take for the year (if you don’t answer they will take it),
then they ask you to sign a mandate to let them take the money directly on your account.
Germany is similar although not exactly the same, my wife files a return there. They calculate her taxes. Happily when asked in writing about her family income, she was within her rights in saying “my husband refuses to tell you his income, he doesn’t tell me, and he has no German affiliation”
