Ron Lee wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:

It's almost as satisfying as flying. I can't describe it, but I do
encourge it, if you are able to steal 10 or 15 minutes out of a busy
day. It is well worth it for all concerned.
We need to clone John, and get one of him stationed at every airport
fence in America. Within 15 years, the airports would be booming
again.

Jay Honeck

GA activity at my airport with over 400 planes is not great. Perhaps
100 plus ops a day where a T&G counts as two ops.

What is the general status of GA activity around the country?

It is all but dead at some local airports and somewhat alive at others,
but not great. The airport where I learned to fly, N38, has an FBO that
sells fuel, but no longer has maintenance services, instruction,
aircraft rental or even consistent pilots and aircraft to fly scenic
tour rides. These were all there until about 8 years ago when the
long-time operator retired.

7N1 is in better shape, but it just underwent a renovation like N38 did
about 8-10 years ago and I'm hoping it doesn't suffer the same fate.
N38 went downhill shortly after the renovation as hangars were torn
down, etc., and not all of the promised new ones were built. 7N1 is
facing a somewhat similar problem now. It seems easy to get money for
the runway improvements and lights, but hard for maintenance buildings
and hangars.

ELM is quite GA hostile now, at least for anything less than kerosene
burners. Hangars are being torn down and existing hangars not
maintained. I haven't checked lately, but I don't think the current FBO
(there have been 3 different ones in the last 5 years or so) rents
aircraft any longer or has flight instruction or maintenance available.
And fuel costs are incredible (100LL is more than $5/gallon). They
have a great building and cater will to transient pilots, but there is
no real local GA support.

I'm not real optimistic about GA in this area longer term. 7N1 is the
only bright spot at all and the operate there isn't too far from
retirement. I fear that when he does retire, the fate will follow N38.

Matt