GA is priceless

john smith writes:

You made a statement in an earlier posting to the effect that general
aviation was not practicle because weather delays prevent one from
getting to ones destination on time. I simply pointed out that you made
an inaccurate statement.

No, you mentioned a person who had been lucky enough (or reckless
enough) never to be delayed by weather. There are many other unlucky
pilots who are dead because they would not tolerate weather delays.

The fact remains that weather is by far the most important obstacle to
GA as utility transportation, and that is not likely to change, unless
general aviation aircraft are equipped and built like airliners (and
GA pilots begin receiving the same training and experience as airline
pilots). The technology required for safe all-weather flight is
extremely expensive and is thus absent from GA aircraft. The training
required to successfully and safely fly in inclement weather is also
very expensive and tedious and most GA pilots have neither the
resources nor the ambition to undertake it.

I don't understand the irrational insistence that general aviation
provides some sort of utility transportation, in the way that cars,
trains, or commercial airlines do. That is manifestly untrue, and the
failure to acknowledge this mystifies me, and makes me wary of
anything else that is said to me by the people who refuse to see the
obvious.

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