It seems to me that this is exactly the same reason that the E.A.A. was started. A group of guys who wanted to go flying but could not afford to do it the conventional way, pooling their resources to make it more affordable. I belong to a flying club, and have been limiting my flying as much as possible while still staying current, and also scratch building an economical flyer. History repeats itself. I guess I belong the right organization!!
plans building a Sonex!!
I must agree that the young people I have introduced to flight just don't have the means to go for it. On the other hand, I have successfully targeted a few "Matured" pilots that left flying in their younger days do to family and jobs. One ride in my open cockpit Charger bi-plane brings new sparkle in their eyes. With the Approved drug list today, many have found that they can indeed pass a flight physical, take a few refresher flights with a good instructor and once again savor the freedom we call flight. Three of these friends have bought their own aircraft and are now, once again competent pilots with huge smiles on their faces. Each returned pilot is another check on my bucket list!
While everyone I know gets all misty-eyed over the memories of busy airfields, if they went back that way I'd probably yearn for the days when I had the place all to myself and could do touch and goes as long as I wanted without interference.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
I'm 57, have soloed and done one x-country. The cost of renting from my instructor was killing me so I bought myself a '58 Piper Tripacer. This has put my fuel costs at $40-$50 an hour plus there are maintenance costs (I'm still sorting out some issues, but can see the light at the end of the tunnel), insurance, my instructor's fees when he flies with me and so forth. Even this is pushing my budget but once I have my PPL I expect my costs to come down some more.
In my case $$$ has been the biggest barrier to flight. I'm really spending more than my budget should allow but I decided that this is something I want to do so I'm doing it. I think that if flight were more affordable we would see more young people involved in GA. But another thing has changed - aviation no longer has the image of excitement and adventure that it did in the past. Anyone can hop on a jet and it's more or less a mundane experience. I suspect that takes away some from the draw.
One of the by-products of not much flying is unattended airports and airports that no longer sell fuel. I have no hard data, but it seems to me that there are more of these airports without an attendant and fuel, or the self-service fuel pump is locked and there may or may not be a working number to call. Sundays is a difficult day to fly cross country as there are few people around if some kind of service is needed. Makes cross country flying more difficult. At the same time, the hangars at these smaller, unattended airports seem to be full and I do not hear of many places where there is an abundance of available hangar space. Owners must be just parking their airplanes, waiting for better economic times, perhaps.
Don
One consequence is on Wednesday I learned my rate, $200/mo., would be double other rates because I want to rework my plane at the hanger. Priced by availability and demand, I don't fault the FBO, he has to stay in business too. But it justifies my decision to go with a quality trailer to bring the plane home.
Thursday I ordered a new pontoon trailer, sized to carry the plane from Canton to Huntsville. It won't take much to tailor it for my plane but it is open frame. But I had speculated about mods to make it into a variation of a sailplane trailer.
My first thought is a light-weight (aka., foam and fiber-glass shell) whose primary goal is hail protection. Pure speculation, an outer layer of kevlar (who can afford it?), a flexible foam core, and a flexible inner shell. Instead of breaking, the shell deforms to absorb the hail impact energy and then returns to the original shape. . . . Ok, maybe overkill but it is a consequence of the original problem . . . too many parked planes and not enough flying.
The airport needs to stay in business and if it can't from fuel and operating expenses then it becomes an expensive, airplane parking lot.
Bob Wilson
Last edited by bwilson4web; 11-10-2011 at 10:33 PM.
They sure are.Originally Posted by dewi8095
Here's the mindset: "I paid $65,000 for that 1972 PA28-160 and I'm not taking a penny less!"
So the annual reveals some issues that will cost $5k to fix. The airplane is pushed back into the hangar and sits, waiting for someone to show up with a check for $65,000.
Even worse is when the owner dies and the family thinks "Oh, that's where all his money was!" And expect to sell the Cherokee for $100k because "Uncle Ned" told them that's what the airplane is worth...
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Dan McCormack
Smoketown, PA (S37)
N24286, 1940 Aeronca Chief 65-LA (Lycoming O-145-B2)
CFI
http://flightmusings.blogspot.com/
Of course fuel prices have something to do with it. I used to work at an FBO, and when gas prices went down (albeit rare), I could see a great jump in activity. The main problem is that the people's disposable income is dropping significantly because the cost of everything is going up while their wages are not. I'm 18, and I finally, luckily, got my license in August the day before I left for college. I paid for almost all of my lessons myself through saving for years. Only one time did my dad give me money in the middle of the process when my finances got thin, but I paid for the rest. I pushed to the very last day possible, as I knew that if I didn't get it done before I went to college, I would not finish it for years because the amount of time I need to spend on my college work would not have allowed me anytime to fly, but I finally got it done. It was the biggest relief in the world, and it felt so good to finally be able join the club! But the price to do just about anything today is ridiculous.
Jesse Schoolcraft
Congrats Jesse!
You are proof that if you want something bad enough you can still find a way to get it done! I know a lot of "Seniors" who pine for the good old days and have negative things to say about the younger generation, but that is just a function of aging. That has been with us since Adam died! There's a old saying, "when things get tough the tough get going!", and today things are tough. Nice going!, tough guy!
Joe
The lack of flying is because (IMO) flying isn't seen as glamoruous, like it was up through (arguably) the Apollo program. So most people born after me (I'm a '64 model) never looked at flying and though "Wow, I've gotta do that". Without that passion, few are going to make the sacrifices of both time and money to become pilots.
The cost issue? There is more wealth today and there are more wealthy people today than ever before. Most people just choose to spend their discretionary funds on a bigger house, a newer car, or a nicer vacation, instead of earmarking it for flying.
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