How much longer?

On Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:02:27 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news:GXVJj.107598$yE1.37839@attbi_s21:

I'm not so sure, however, that even you aren't part of the phenomenon
- no offense meant or implied, just making a non-judgmental
observation. After all, how many of those 235 horses your Dakota (?)
has do you really need? Wouldn't an Archer do 99 percent of your
missions? And with a much lower fuel bill?

None taken. You are absolutely correct.

Which is why we're looking at entering a six-way partnership (flying
club, actually) on a 1946 Ercoupe. 85 horses, 2 seats, 4 gph. The
Pathfinder (immediate predecessor to the Dakota) is an awesome plane
for hauling a family in style -- and we'll certainly keep it -- but
Atlas burns 25 gph at takeoff, which makes buzzing down to a pancake
breakfast something you tend to think twice about nowadays.


You are an idiot. I will fly as long as there is air. Gasoline be
damned. I started without it and I'll finish withour if needs be.

Bertie

I look at it this way. Do I want to go flying? yes.
....f**k the cost. Lets go flying.
flying is about aviation not accounting.
of course it helps to be flying an efficient homebuilt.
Stealth Pilot

Stealth Pilot wrote in
:

On Sun, 6 Apr 2008 02:02:27 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news:GXVJj.107598$yE1.37839@attbi_s21:

I'm not so sure, however, that even you aren't part of the
phenomenon
- no offense meant or implied, just making a non-judgmental
observation. After all, how many of those 235 horses your Dakota
(?)
has do you really need? Wouldn't an Archer do 99 percent of your
missions? And with a much lower fuel bill?

None taken. You are absolutely correct.

Which is why we're looking at entering a six-way partnership (flying
club, actually) on a 1946 Ercoupe. 85 horses, 2 seats, 4 gph.
The
Pathfinder (immediate predecessor to the Dakota) is an awesome plane
for hauling a family in style -- and we'll certainly keep it -- but
Atlas burns 25 gph at takeoff, which makes buzzing down to a pancake
breakfast something you tend to think twice about nowadays.


You are an idiot. I will fly as long as there is air. Gasoline be
damned. I started without it and I'll finish withour if needs be.

Bertie

I look at it this way. Do I want to go flying? yes.
...f**k the cost. Lets go flying.
flying is about aviation not accounting.
of course it helps to be flying an efficient homebuilt.


Exactly. Once the technology was licked ther was always going to be a
way.

Martin,

So the 380USD today
where about 200USD back then in about 2002 (hopefully calculated correct).


True. But Avgas in the US (and here) was much cheaper then. And rental
rates were at least a good 30 to 40 percent lower in the US back then, too,
while not that much cheaper here.

Still, the weak dollar makes those numbers more impressive than I thought. I
need to go flying in the US again...

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert schrieb:
So the 380USD today
where about 200USD back then in about 2002 (hopefully calculated correct).


True. But Avgas in the US (and here) was much cheaper then. And rental
rates were at least a good 30 to 40 percent lower in the US back then, too,
while not that much cheaper here.

all points taken, and you quoted a flying Prontosaurier with a G1000
that was not available back then.

Still, the weak dollar makes those numbers more impressive than I thought.

This is what I was trying to point out.

I need to go flying in the US again...

well ...

#m

I am an ancient ex-pilot who lost his medical 30 years ago. Took a
senimental trip to the local (private) strip a few weeks ago for the first
time in years. Shot the bull with several guys at the shack for a while. One
of the older guys was active there when I was still flying. He mentioned
that back then, any pretty weekend day, there was always 2-3 aircraft
puttering around the strip, shooting landings or just enjoying. While the
number of aircraft hangered there was about the same (20-30), the strip was
pretty much dead by comparison. There was 2-3 guys in their hangers working
on their planes, there was not the sound of a single engine.

His guess as to why? Just too expensive nowdays to just climb into the plane
at will and fly for the sheer joy of flight a couple times a week like we
used to do. Just staying at an acceptable level of competency was expensive
enough. He said that few of the pilots there could fly without an eye to the
cost.

On Apr 5, 8:22 pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
Andrew Sarangan wrote:
I work in education, and in recent years I
have graduated many people with doctorate and masters degrees in high-
tech areas whom I would consider frighteningly incompetent.

That's something of a self-indictment, isn't it? In what manner do you work
in education, "graduate" many "incompetents," and not have any culpability
in the matter?

Ah, now you are asking a more complicated question. Graduate degrees
are granted by examining committees, not by taking an exam in a
classroom. There are no A - F grades. There is lots of wiggle room,
and political pressure by committee members and administrators to
graduate as many students as possible. More students means more
revenue, and more (short term) reputation for the institutions, and
this can also affect tenure decisions. How many PhD or MS candidates
do you think fail at their oral defense? In many institutions, this is
0%.

On Apr 6, 2:37 am, BlowMe wrote:


You must work at a Guvment School right?

No. 100% private money.


Great Job Comrade. Thanks for your wonderful example of our
****ed away tax dollars at work

No tax dollars, thank you. It is your hard earned money. That is why
we have a greater incentive to graduate you even if you are
incompetent.

On Apr 5, 3:32*am, buttman wrote:

I'm not an economist, but it seems with the increase in demand for
alternatively fueled cars, (hybrids, hydrogen powered, etc), the
demand for fuel will go way down, bring the price down with it.
Additionally, once the auto industry completely converts to hydrogen
(or whatever fuel type comes out on top), that technology will trickle
into aircraft engines.

The real problem is that it will only get worse before it gets better.
Unless something unforeseen happens, the price will only go up for at
least a few more years until it starts dropping again. The real
question is will the hobby survive until energy prices drop back down?

That is what happened in the 70s. We decreased our demand, and the
price of oil eventually went down. The problem is, the world
situation is different now than it was back then. Now we have China
and India ramping up demand. Even if we significantly decrease our
demand, the worldwide demand for oil is only going to continue to go
up. And that means that the only way the price will ever go down is
if the supply goes up. As I understand it, right now the supply is
bottlenecked by the lack of refining capacity. The refineries are
running at nearly 100% capacity. And there doesn't seem to be much of
a push by the oil companies to build more refineries. Given the
increase in demand, I would think that will change.

By the way, take a look at this list. This is the list of countries
that supply oil to the United States, in descending order by oil
volume. If you count Algeria, there are only three Middle Eastern
countries on the list! Canada actually has more known reserves of oil
than Saudi Arabia. But the oil is in the form of oil shale, which is
more expensive to extract and refine. Anyway, the point I am really
making is there is still plenty of oil in the ground to satisfy
demand. The real problem is that there isn't enough refining
capacity.

1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Venezuela
5. Nigeria
6. Angola
7. Iraq
8. Algeria
9. United Kingdom
10. Brazil


Phil

"Thomas Borchert" ...
Still, the weak dollar makes those numbers more impressive
than I thought. I need to go flying in the US again...


Come on over, many of the FBOs for the overseas pilots are back in full
business:

http://www.eaa-fly.com/

They claim a 50% clientele from Europe (I have no affiliation).

I think America is one of the best bargains considering the exchange. We
should be overrun with Euro tourists this summer,... if the Euro-media stops
the Bush-bashing.

What hasn't returned to the same level is the British flavored fly-schools.
Any ideas on that?

Mike Isaksen schrieb:
We should be overrun with Euro tourists this summer,...
if the Euro-media stops the Bush-bashing.

This has nothing to do with your current president. There are many
little things that add up, at least for some people, but it might not
hold back the masses (so prepare for tourists [1], but don't hold your
breath for _many_ pilots).

#m

[1]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...022401642.html
http://atlanticreview.org/archives/9...ted-Signs.html