Thomas Borchert wrote:
Mxsmanic,

I'm opinionated, but I'm polite,


No, you're not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Being opinionated about
subjects you know nothing or very little about is not polite.


From what I've seen, Mxsmanic seems to know alot more than he is being
given credit for. In fact, I've been impressed with how much knowledge
he has on aviation considering he apparently uses sims rather than
doing the real thing.

As for this particular thread, he has an opinion that GA is in general,
not practical for tranportation purposes. He has a level of knowledge
on the subject and he has also made some reasonable assumptions to come
to this conclusion.

Therefore, I believe your assertion that he is impolite is wrong. He
has an opinion on a subject that he is at least somewhat familiar with
and he is discussing it. He has not been impolite or made personal
attacks on anyone. (Which is more than I can say for other's in this
group).

And in the opinion of *this* licensed pilot, he is correct. In general,
GA is NOT practical for transportation. Of course there are exceptions
to the rule, but most families aren't keen on being restricted to going
to aviation museums that are on airport properties for their vacations.

The fact that weather is a major factor on GA travel, the fact that
once you get to your destination you STILL most likely have to rent a
car, the fact that it's still going to cost more to fly yourself to
your destination than drive or fly commercially.... makes GA
impractical.

Sure, you can create a scenario that will contradict this (if you live
in a place where the weather is VFR most of the time, if you plan to go
to the aviation museum at an airport or if you fly to an airport where
courtesy cars are available for use for as long and when you need them,
etc). BUT, if you were to work up a scenario for a *typical* trip, GA
flying is NOT practical.

You guys that have the equipment, money, resources and the situation to
make your GA flying practical for transportation - that's great. But
don't fool yourselves into thinking that it's par for the course.