Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
The big airports fund all the little ones.

I do smile at the 100K airplane line, though. I only know one person that owns a 100K airplane, and he rents it out for training to defray the cost. Maybe that was what most of them were worth when they were new, but our airfield is populated with Cessnas that would sell for half of that based on age and use. Maybe the restored Cub on the field could fetch 100K; put me down for two guys I know.

And I make no excuses for having flying as a hobby. Nobody should. We don't cast aspersions on the guy who buys a big RV, a custom bike, a bass boat with a big truck to pull it, jet skis, golf clubs, or any number of expensive things that go with useless hobbies.

Should we close boat ramps and marinas because most people can't afford a decent fishing or skiing boat? Charge a fee to them every time they contact the weather service, Coast Guard, or Fish and Game?

Yes, I fly because I can. It's a helluva good time, and one of the most personally rewarding things I've done. I shouldn't have to make excuses for it any more than I should have to pay some extra fee just because of it above the taxes I'm already paying.

If they charge ten bucks a landing, the hour of touch and goes is extinct. That's smart, ain't it?

If they charge ten bucks to open a flight plan and another ten to close it, they won't get filed. Even better!
I know of dozens of airplane owners that have 100k or close in their airplanes, Van's RVs mostly,and I'm a newbie to aviation so I figure you must know several too,there's been recent posts on this forum telling others to quit complaining about the price of the 100k plus LSA market, I can only guess what they have in theirs. The point I was trying to make was lost I guess, and I'm not asking anyone to apologize for anything, I'll fly out of a farmfield if I can't afford to do otherwise. Aviation is a rich man's sport/hobby that has a few options (for now) for the working class crowd (that's me and apparently you as well) down to ultralites if that's all you can swing. And with the info I'm finding on the.gov websites it's still the same answer. The big airports do seem to pay for the little ones, but it's the commercial customers paying for that price tag in passed on excise taxes. I do believe that users fees will kill GA as we know it, but it seems to be dying a slow death anyways with the dream getting further out of reach with every new regulation, and economics are playing a big part in it too.