On Jul 3, 2:17*pm, "Steve Foley" wrote:

It may last, but I won't see it.

AT&T is dropping usenet access as of 7/15

I had to get a (free) Gmail account and use Google Groups. It's not
quite as user-friendly but it's portable. You can forward gmail to
your regular e-mail account or just ignore it.

I bailed on rec.aviation newsgroups around the same time Jay and
everybody else did because the flaming and name-calling started to
bring out the worst in people. It is one of the reasons why network
administrators have decided to say "Aw, screw it" and discontinue
access. Nobody wants to have to maintain a team of admins just to
avoid blacklisting for being unable to stay on top of thousands of
inappropriate abuse complaints every week. It's easier just to pull
the plug on the whole thing and apply those resources elsewhere.

Moreover, we should endeavor to act like pilots, not angry old hens.

Meanwhile, it's been a positively brutal year for aviation so far in
Oregon. We've got furloughed Horizon pilots coming in to try to find
CFI work, or to just meet their unemployment benefit conditions. Last
year at this time even the new CFIs were too busy to take on new
students and there were more airplanes than tie-downs on the average
summer weekend. Now, other than the handful of regulars, the CAP and
transients, it's a ghost town. One out-of-work CFI told me that other
FBOs are reporting 25% of last-year's activity so far this year.

Last week, the FAA looked at our 50-year-old, towered airport, (KTTD)
and decided that the Bravo taxiway was 100' too close to the runway.
So, despite there never having been a related accident--even when the
taxiway was the alternate runway when the runway was being resurfaced--
they plowed an entire row of hangars to make room, with no plans to
replace them. There is no available hangar space here, so, a whole
bunch of owners have to scramble to relocate. They're threatening to
put metal detectors and TSA agents where there are presently picnic
tables, a closely-knit pilot and owner community and no history of
criminal activity.

The good news for us is, the FAA inspected the FBO last week and the
only thing he dinged us on for Part 135 and Part 141 operations was
because a renter had absentmindedly removed the owner's manual from
the Skylane. (The necessary checklists were still onboard and the
plane wasn't scheduled to fly.) They shut down our competitor last
year, so, we all breathed a sigh of relief when the inspector said
"Everything looks great!" The old-timers like to point out a lack
of new students equates to longer-term career security for pilots who
are already coming into the industry, and we're managing to hold on to
an above-average reputation as an FBO and flight school, so, we just
have to hang in there until the financial and political chaos settles.

Fly safe!

Chris Gattman
Commercial pilot, CFI - Troutdale, Oregon