"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I do not get this argument. I would like to understand it. But why is
the little podunk airport important?

snip

Just curious: How many long cross-country flights have you made with
your family?

me, none. If you remember from a bygone thread, my wife won't fly w/ me.

I believe this is why you see so little utility in small-town
airports. Until you've been on a bunch of long cross-country flights
with your family, and flown into small-town America from coast to
coast, it's really hard to appreciate their essential nature.

Most of our trips utilize these smaller, less used airports, and it is
always a delight to visit them. This is where "real" America still
exists, and their existence allows us, as pilots, to drop in almost
anywhere across this vast continent.

All of this is, of course, aside from all the vital financial aid your
airport brings to your community. Everything from "Flight for Life"
helicopters, to charters, to little guys like us think of your airport
as your "Front Door" -- and, quite frankly, we don't go to towns that
don't have airports.

Of course, if the pilot community continues to dwindle, there won't be
enough of us flying to bring $$$ into those small towns, and those
airports will simply close. And THEN flying in America will really
have lost it's merit.

While I think small airports are really important, your "trying to get
pilots to agree to do anything is like trying to herd cats" remark comes to
mind. Where I plan on doing most of my flying, there is a small town
airport about every 20 to 30 miles along the only highway. The towns along
that highway work together on a lot of things, but if there ever was an
attempt by the airports to work together, it failed. Consequently, there is
no critical mass, one fly-in (there were 2 only a couple of years ago), and
the biggest of the airports appears to have the least going on.

I think they'd be a lot better off if:
1. They formed a regional coordination board.
2. Promoted the area as a fly-in vacation spot.
3. Decided which type of business worked best at each area, and promoted
those businesses to relocate there.
4. Had a regional Fly-in that rotated between the airports.