In article
outaviation.com,
says...


Now that I'm in the process of pre-retirement, and moving to NH



Well, you seem to consider yourself to be an objective,
stare-the-facts-in-the-face kind of guy. Now that you're moving to a rural
place like New Hampshire, if you are going to be honest with yourself, this
should give you ample opportunity to reflect and reconsider your stance on
GA subsidies and the usefulness of GA.

The biggest users of GA are UPS, FEDEX, USPS etc. Their business models are
completely predicated on GA - without it, they don't work. In turn, the
entire economic viability of businesses in places like NH is dependent on
these services. Believe me - I grew up in neighboring Vermont, and there at
that time, if you needed anything more exotic than a 10-32 machine screw,
the word was "we can order it" - "in a few months . . ." New Hampshire's
substantial export business is also completely dependent on transport
services, in other words - General Aviation.

The GA industry, and the government's support of it, is not the "nefarious"
plot you seem to believe - instead it is a lucid recognition of the
economic tissue of the USA. This differs somewhat from Europe, where GA is
still important, but not as vital. The compactness of the European
continent and its climate allow trains to develop and take up much of the
slack. Over-regulation of GA in Europe is causing huge economic losses, but
nowhere near the calamity that a similar stance would engender in the US.
As Asian markets develop, they will face a situation more comparable to
that of the US, and GA will have to develop to support the growth of the
economy there.

Only a few generations ago, business in the US was only really viable in
one of the large metropolitan centers. To move from there was to be
condemned to a life of poverty and deprivation. Communication and
transportation are the infrastructures that have allowed that situation to
turn around, and GA is an absolutely vital link in that prodigious
development. Yes, you can find and elect, even in the US, people with a
European socialist view, who feel we would all be better off riding buses.
Such a mentality would really sting in the "live free or die" state, which
is entirely dependent on modern infrastructure for its survival.

GF