Tough to find which post in this long thread to correctly reply to, my
apologies.

But I do have some thoughts...

Disposable income aside, I believe that this is the death of old-school GA,
and it is the birth of 21st century GA.

Airplanes that burn 8 GPH, 14 GPH and especially old twins burning 28GPH
(or more) are going to probably be dead except for the well-off hobbyists
who love then and can still afford to fly them. I was just at an AOPA town
hall the other night and one of the older pilots (aren't we mostly all old?)
in the room remarked that his biggest problem in GA was paying $400 to
refill the tanks of his B55 Baron after a flight!

I think that operating cost is the big issue for our older airplanes, newer
airplanes such as Cirrus, Diamonds, etc are going to look more and more
appealing, these are the future. Now - envision these with REALLY
efficient new technology engines, not Lycomings or Continentals... and
environmentally sound low-carbon engines, and this is the future of GA.

Usually I fly alone or with one other person. I rent these days. The
model year 2000 Diamond DA-20 I rent goes 150mph at 5.5 GPH. This would
be an OK airplane to own in the 21st century. You can buy them used
$100k.

Get used to it. Our old airplanes might still be worth a little more year
after year, but they aren't worth a fraction of the price of new, capable,
more efficient modern GA airplanes.

Thanks, and this just an opinion,

I drive a Prius. This probably puts my comments in perspective. :-)

Lee McGee


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
writes:

When my father flew in the late 60s and early 70s, he paid $25/ hour
(wet) for a Cherokee 140 as a member of a club ($25/month dues).

He also bought a new 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 for $1900. (2 doors, 302
V-8, foam green with Landau vinyl roof -- sweet)

Of course he was proud to earn $200+/week.

So if he earned $104,000 a year today, the cost of aviation would be about
the
same for him.