"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:2AyKe.238299$x96.106126@attbi_s72...

You need a Pathfinder, Trent. No W&B issues, ever, and a 1460 pound
useful
load.

I'm a renter right now. Maybe someday. Can anyone loan me some money?

Since April, as a family, we have flown to Florida, Seattle (commercial),
Washington, D.C., Mackinac Island, Door County, WI, Oshkosh, and the
Ozarks,
with many other shorter trips in between.

The sad
thing is, people choose not to fly GA for many bogus reasons, ranging from
cost to "it's too hard." NONE of these reasons are valid, but we in the
GA
world have done a terrible job of spreading the word to the non-flying
public.

I have to disagree there. Those reasons are valid, if only for the family
that feels they are. If I had a full-grown family of four, but couldn't
afford a Pathfinder (or similiar heavy lifter), how could I fly my family on
vacation? If renting a capable plane cost 2 or 3 times as much as a
commercial ticket, how could I justify it? Then there is the cost of time
and money of getting checked out, getting current in said aircraft on top of
all that. All that is a whole lot harder and more expensive than buying a
commercial ticket or just driving.

Enjoy your boat, but don't label GA as being "family unfriendly" simply
because you haven't been able to make it work. Flying is one of the
greatest (and, for a change, useful) family activities there is.

I labeled it family unfriendly because it is unaccessible to most families
because of cost alone. You have to admit that buying an $80,000 airplane is
a HUGE investment; that's roughly what it would cost to own a true
four-place airplane. That's more than some families' houses! And the fact
that your kids (if you have two) can't bring their friends along makes it
even worse. A lot of my friends have 3 or more kids. What are they going to
do?

See where I am going with this? I love aviation and I love to fly. I just
realize that it has its limitations when it comes to family recreation
and/or transportation. It's working for your family and that's great, but
you were wondering why GA isn't more prevelant with families and I'm
offering my point of view.

-Trent
PP-ASEL