New Zealand Man Decapitated by DIY Hovercraft
The danger of greatly increased accessibility to DIY tech. is that it disregards the question, "Should I be doing this?"
There's no question that "Do It Yourself" (DIY) technologies have become increasingly more accessible to private citizen enthusiasts. I remember standing in a "workshop" (a basement tool bench) where an air-vent panel from the wing of an airplane sat under florescent lights. "My dad's building his airplane," my friend reported nonchalantly. His dad was an accountant. This was my first experience with things like airplane "kits", for DIY'ers that, having received their pilot's license, simply wanted to make their own airplane (from someone else's plans and materials). I consider this somewhat akin to the guy that wants to drywall his own basement (that being me, with some help), but on an entirely different level. I wanted to save money, learn a bit more about a trade, and challenge myself. Companies are seeing this in many enterprising adults (mostly men) and have commercialized it, providing fairly advanced technology in easy-to-do DIY kits. However, what greater accessibility to these kinds of pre-packaged tech endeavors comes a greater degree of danger; the danger of human error. There is no way to certify that just because an individual feels they followed the directions that they haven't missed something along the way. In the case of the airplane kit, that airplane needed to be certified by an aeronautics professional before even being taken to a hanger. What's really scary is when individuals with just enough knowledge to think they can build something, locate the materials, develop the plan, and implement all on their own.
