GA is priceless

I agree with you 100% on the convenience and utility of, and the love
of owning, my own airplane. However, to state "I can't understand for
the life of me why there isn't an airplane in every American garage" is
not only a disgusting comment, but one that suggests that you are
totally out of touch with the condition of this country. Sounds like
a person who once commented..."Let them eat cake."

Sadly, the reason GA flying is priced so high is because so few people
actually want to do it. Just like automobiles in the early 1900s,
airplanes today are hand-built, luxury items, with prices to match.

If "Every Man" in America wanted to fly, airplanes would cost about
what a new car costs -- maybe less, given how little structure is
actually involved. (Don't ever look too closely at the stabilator
attachment points on a Cherokee, or the wing spar attachment points on
a Skyhawk, unless you're prepared to be shocked at how little "there"
is actually there.)

Oh, wait -- you *can* buy an airplane for about what a new car costs.
Our old Warrior, which faithfully carried my family from coast to coast
from '98 to '02, cost less than our hotel's courtesy van.

And STILL there isn't a plane in every garage. Why?

Are the proletariat welcome at your motel, or only the AIRPLANE OWNERS?

Sadly, (except for the weeks around Oshkosh, of course) less than 5% of
our guests are pilots, by my count. (A large proportion of that 5%
*are* aircraft owners, however.) Probably another 50% are interested
in aviation, or aviation history -- but pilots are a small, dying
breed, way too small a group to ever support a hotel. Even one as
small as ours... :-(

But Mary and I work on converting each and every one of those "pilot
wannabees" who step into our lobby. I'll set them in the Kiwi, get 'em
shooting an approach into Madeline Island at sunset, and watch the
gears start turning...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"