Any Aviation Activity Increase?

[martymayes]

Thanks for asking. I went to Discover Powered Paragliding near Quincy Illinois.

Thanks for that - I'll check them out. This past summer at OSH was the first time I really paid attention to the paramotor guys since several were flying at the ultralight strip every day. Plus 2 of them flew in the airshow one afternoon. Not sure if I would like it but the reasons you cited (low cost, minimal storge space) make it an attractive hobby/sport. If nothing else might be something for the bucket list (you and I are about the same age)

[Gil]

Can't speak for others, but we have been incredibly busy this year. We hired a full time CFI in January and bought a Stearman in the spring - all three of us instructors have been busy all year, and we have even seen several new students start primary training in October. I am part time and have logged more than 300 hours of instruction this year.

[lynnlpitts]

We were bouncing back at JLN from the General Motors/Congress attack on aviation until the about three years ago when a new tower chief started citing deviations and violations left and right...now, many area pilots will not fly in Joplin for fear of the towers wrath. We never had numbers to support a tower but during an airshow in the early seventies, they did a traffic count and we got one. Those guys were good and whether we goofed or they did we helped each other. Now it's an attitude of "This is MY airport" When I started flying in the sixties we had two major carriers with 14 flights a day and tons of VA students at Mizzou Aviation with a FSS but no tower and no problems. We followed procedure and used manners. Are other small airports with towers having similar difficulties?

[Dana]

I flew paramotors for about 5 years; it was my return to aviation after not flying for 20 years... about the most fun I've had in the air. Although it looks extreme sport insane, it's actually slow and relaxing. It's very much a social sport, two or five or ten guys all flying together, make a short flight, hang out and watch the others fly, fly again, rinse and repeat until it gets dark, then have a beer or two before going home. Because they're so slow (20 mph) you don't often actually go anywhere; you just crank and bank at low altitudes close to the field, slalom between trees, drag your feet in the grass... all the things that would be dangerous (and illegal) in an airplane. But you either need several places to fly in rotation, or an airport where the noise doesn't matter, because while neighbors are greatly entertained at first, the 2 stroke whine gets annoying if it becomes a constant thing.

We had a bunch flying out of Griswold Airport in CT. For awhile it was just like the crazy glory days of ultralights in the early 1980s. After the airport closed the local PPG scene fragmented, and the pilots (about half of whom were also airplane pilots) drifted on to other things.