History of the BFR?

Jay, they WERE free, as long as you were enrolled as a full time student and
were an Air Operations (Aviation) major. I paid a grand total of $600/
semester for this. You received around 1-2 hours each week,( in your choice
of Cessna 172, or Cherokee 140) per semester. SUNY students could also
participate in the "Air Meets", a flying competition activity . This was
back in 1974.

Today, there is a fee for flight training.
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:KTVfd.259368$wV.155655@attbi_s54...
OOps.In my previous post change "possible to get Commercial without
Instrument rating" to "Possible to get CFI without Instrument rating".
We
actually had a student at SUNY get his CFI before the IFR. The flight
lessons were free in those days, son if they offered you a rating you
didn't
argue..........

"Flight lessons were free..."????

What paradise are you describing here?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay, they WERE free, as long as you were enrolled as a full time student
and
were an Air Operations (Aviation) major. I paid a grand total of $600/
semester for this. You received around 1-2 hours each week,( in your
choice
of Cessna 172, or Cherokee 140) per semester. SUNY students could also
participate in the "Air Meets", a flying competition activity . This was
back in 1974.

Dang. How was SUNY paying for this? It sure wasn't coming out of your
$600 bucks!

GI Bill?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 04:26:47 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

GI Bill?

Probably not, but that was the best thing ever to happen to general
aviation. Not that I got anything out of it directly, but it was the
lifelline for a zillion FBOs and it sold planes and got people into
the sky. It meant that when I started flying in '69 there were planes
on the line and healthy FBOs.

And outside of aviation, It got people into college and out into good
jobs. I was a snot-nosed kid out of highschool in '61, starting at
engineering school, but the ex-GIs, goddamn, they knew what they were
after and they worked their asses off and made us kids work or fall to
the tyranny of the curve.

Don

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 05:22:10 GMT, Don Tuite
wrote:

GI Bill?

Probably not, but that was the best thing ever to happen to general
aviation.

Your remarks on the GI Bill are right on target. The U.S. is only now
ceasing to see the economic benefits of the GI Bill, passed I believe
in 1944! Indeed, the benefits may still be operative, as the
grandchildren of the WWII vets obtain an education that they might
never have aspired to, had not the old man gone to college on the GI
Bill.

Not only my university, but even my high school (Brewster Free
Academy, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire) was swollen to capacity by a
significant number of "vets". Indeed, the student body at the
University of New Hampshire actually shrank each year that I was
there, as the vets worked their way through the system and graduated.

Higher education was never the same again.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

"Don Tuite" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 04:26:47 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

GI Bill?

Probably not, but that was the best thing ever to happen to general
aviation.
snip
Don

No lie. The GI bill was the ONLY reason the 200HP versions of the Cessna
Cardinal RG, Piper Arrow, and Beech Sierra were ever built. To satisfy the
training requirements of the GI bill.

Thousands were sold on that basis, mostly to unsuspecting leaseback owners.

However, very few of the GI bill students ever became professional pilots.
Most got their ratings and already had a "good" job. Look at the poor
suckers who went into the airlines for a "career." Have you EVER seen a
happy airline pilot?

Karl

"kage" wrote

However, very few of the GI bill students ever became professional
pilots. Most got their ratings and already had a "good" job. Look at
the poor suckers who went into the airlines for a "career." Have you
EVER seen a happy airline pilot?

YES!!! I was a VERY happy airline pilot at Pan American Airways.
Why would I not have been? A salary better than most of my college
classmates, worked only 12 days/month to earn it, travel free all
over the world and in the better days, a bunch of lovely young ladies
to party with. As a lifestyle, it sure beat anything that my neighbors
were doing.

Bob Moore
ATP B-707 B-727
PanAm (retired)

YES!!! I was a VERY happy airline pilot at Pan American Airways.
Why would I not have been? A salary better than most of my college
classmates, worked only 12 days/month to earn it, travel free all
over the world and in the better days, a bunch of lovely young ladies
to party with. As a lifestyle, it sure beat anything that my neighbors
were doing.

With a description like that, is it any wonder that those jobs -- and Pan Am
itself -- are only a distant memory?

I know you are aware that you were incredibly lucky to fly in the times you
did, because nowadays -- in an era where everyone can (and must be able to)
afford to fly commercially -- that job description would never happen.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:54:10 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I know you are aware that you were incredibly lucky to fly in the times you
did,

This applies to a lot of what we experience in life. Shucks, most
people who got jobs in the 1950s, 1960s, and even 1970s were
incredibly lucky. Practically any salaried job had tenure! Employers
would carry a loyal employee to the grave. Amercans were "salarymen"
just like the Japanese, though in a more informal fashion.

College teachers were fortunate like airline pilots. Now the
first-timers work three jobs to get by.

But as a society, who wanted to go back to the 1950s or even the
1960s? We are at least twice as wealthy now.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

I don't think you'd like flying for PanAm today!

Karl
"Bob Moore" wrote in message
. 121...
"kage" wrote

However, very few of the GI bill students ever became professional
pilots. Most got their ratings and already had a "good" job. Look at
the poor suckers who went into the airlines for a "career." Have you
EVER seen a happy airline pilot?

YES!!! I was a VERY happy airline pilot at Pan American Airways.
Why would I not have been? A salary better than most of my college
classmates, worked only 12 days/month to earn it, travel free all
over the world and in the better days, a bunch of lovely young ladies
to party with. As a lifestyle, it sure beat anything that my neighbors
were doing.

Bob Moore
ATP B-707 B-727
PanAm (retired)