General Aviation Dead?

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:20:16 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:11:43 +0100, Keith Willshaw wrote:

MU wrote:

I haven't renewed my PPL this year and one reason is that the airport
I fly out of is a) under runway construction and b) filled with daffy
old pilots.

Try sharing a single TO/L runway with a bunch of glaucoma-laden
morons. lol. When you choice on TO abort is "which set of mangroves
do I ditch in", you're better off grounded.

Reality Check

Active General Aviation Aircraft in the U.S. 1973-2011
Current as of March 2011
Source: FAA

Year No Active Aircraft
2011 224,475
2001 211,446
1991 196,874
1981 213,293
1973 153,311

Doesn't exactly look dead to me.

Keith

Dying is not dead. Reality check, truth be known, general aviation is a
dying industry. Every year there are fewer active pilots, "active
airplanes" is a load.

At the airport where I learned to fly in the early '70s there used to be
three flight schools; two were busy enough and the third did some float
training. The tiedown area was covered in airplanes. Now there's one
flight school with a couple of Katanas, and both were tied down off in
a corner the other day when I was there. Maybe a quarter of the old
number of airplanes tied down outside, with a few more in hangars. No
kids at the fence. And this in a city that has seen the population
double in that time.

Transport Canada says that in some areas of the country flight training
is down 50% ( I was a partner Cessna dealer there).

The insurance companies have killed off the flight schools and rentals
in all but the most prosperous locations. The general liability
consciousness of our society has affected mentalities, and the fuel
crunch has done the rest.

I wish I could believe otherwise, but I think it is an unrecoverable
flat spin. . .

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

Less mangroves though.
--
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php#

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:41:05 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

I was only there once in late 1999/2000 when they had a string of jets
lining the tarmac.

Less mangroves though.

This is good.

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:46:24 -0400, Tom wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:41:05 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

I was only there once in late 1999/2000 when they had a string of jets
lining the tarmac.

No flights, few pilots, several on payroll. Imagine that. lol

Less mangroves though.

This is good.

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/KMKY/map/satellite


--
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php#

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:59:02 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:46:24 -0400, Tom wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:41:05 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

I was only there once in late 1999/2000 when they had a string of jets
lining the tarmac.

No flights, few pilots, several on payroll. Imagine that. lol

I thought that was where Atta et al became super-duper Boeing pilots
dripping sarcasm

Less mangroves though.

This is good.

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/KMKY/map/satellite

Never short, never long; no control tower, what fun. dripping sarcasm

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:14:09 -0400, Tom wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:59:02 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:46:24 -0400, Tom wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:41:05 -0400, MU wrote:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

I was only there once in late 1999/2000 when they had a string of jets
lining the tarmac.

No flights, few pilots, several on payroll. Imagine that. lol

I thought that was where Atta et al became super-duper Boeing pilots
dripping sarcasm

Even Dekkers doesn't believe any of that nonsense and he knew Atta
better than anyone. Anyone except Company guys, the Saudis and Macdill.

Dekkers is fluent in German as *is* Atta. In private conversation, when
I knew him after 2001, he would swear up and down that there was
absolutely no way for the hijackers to have accomplished the TT hit.
None. Zero. Nada.

Less mangroves though.

This is good.

http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/KMKY/map/satellite

Never short, never long; no control tower, what fun. dripping sarcasm

KMKY is laying a second strip. Won't matter, it's a waste of money. the
geezers will taxi out on the wrong ones and land on the outbounds.
*sigh*
--
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php#

I think its a combination of 2 things: The rising cost of fuel, and the recession.
I think its more expensive to fly your own personal plane than it is to fly commercial, solely based on fuel. I also think less and less people have the money required to for upkeep and annual maintenance. Its a sad time for private pilots
Bill
Check out our NEW SITE!!

Originally Posted by MU

On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:29:55 -0400, Tom wrote:

Do you keep up with Huffman et al?

Dekkers/Hilliard? I was @ Dekkers recent book signing to call out the
fraud until I was asked to "leave". LOL. Hilliard has been arrested more
than once for whipping up on teenagers, what a pair!

Huffman was bought by a Company Ponzi guy, they love Venice for obvious
reasons. Great facility, er, *was* I should say, the town has more
geezers in it than Marco Island and threex as dangerous.

Less mangroves though.
--
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php#

BillWhiteInsurance writes:

I think its a combination of 2 things: The rising cost of fuel, and the
recession.
I think its more expensive to fly your own personal plane than it is to
fly commercial, solely based on fuel. I also think less and less people
have the money required to for upkeep and annual maintenance. Its a sad
time for private pilots

For healthy private aviation, you need a substantial middle class, and the
middle class has mostly disappeared now. Apart from a minority of very wealthy
people, the vast majority of the population is now just squeaking by, with no
discretionary income.

BillWhiteInsurance
writes:

I think its more expensive to fly your own personal plane than it is to
fly commercial, solely based on fuel.

This has been true since the 1980s: Arab oil embargoes increased fuel
costs, and airline deregulation decreased airline travel costs.

I also think less and less people
have the money required to for upkeep and annual maintenance.

True; less and less people have the money to be middle-class, period. Or
maybe you haven't heard of Occupy Wall Street, etc?

The decline is a lot more than money. When I was growing up (1960s),
flight and space exploration were the exciting things in the news. Now,
it's some drug-addled Hollywood or rap celebrity. Kids now are brought
up shuttled from one team or supervised activity to another, never
developing their own independence, and piloting is a solitary activity.

The one area of GA that is thriving is Experimental aircraft. Several
active forums online, lots of new products at reasonable prices (because
little is TSO'd), fine-performing aircraft at affordable prices.

--
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone
deeply gives you courage.
~ Lao tzu