Are People Still Flying As Much Around You?

Jay Honeck wrote:
Mary and I have noticed a substantial (and depressing) drop off in personal
flying of late. Often we are the only plane in the pattern, nowadays.

Worse, we've notice far fewer people talking to ATC -- which indicates that
this may not be a local phenomenon. On Sunday, for example, we flew 90
minutes over to Rantoul, IL, and back, and heard maybe three other planes,
the whole way, outside of "working" aircraft. (And one of them was Jim
Burns, who was with us!)

We *do* tend to fly at "off" times (Sunday afternoons; Wednesdays and
Thursdays, mostly) -- but the change we're noticing has been pretty dramatic
since gas prices spiked. There just doesn't seem to be nearly as many
people flying.

Anyone else noticing this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

One of the flying group owners of the group I belong to told me they're
selling off one of the older 172's. I aksed if they were going to
replace it and he said "Not unless I have to. Nobody's flying anything
right now. Gas prices are killing us."

I do know that early this year if I didn't call a week or two in
advance I had trouble scheduling a 172 for training (the group had 4).
Now I routinely call a day in advance and have my pick. And most of the
time all the others are sitting on the tie downs when I go out to fly.
I just hope the group stays together long enough for me to finish my
PP.

John Stevens
Solo Student, ~35 hours

The reasons in this thread have been covered. Outdoor weekends here
under the Twin Cities TCA once had the near drone of light aircraft.
Now piston engines are rare & there mostly seems to be only turbine
traffic associated with MSP - even on nice days. At my favorite rural
Wisconsin airport I don't see anywhere near the traffic of say 5 years
ago. Mindless maintenance and medical requirements, TFRs, ridiculous
lawsuits, and now ADIZs continue to expand unabated. My family is not
intererested in flying or even inheriting the 172M I've had for 28
years. Student starts are way down elsewhere. The skies are
disturbingly silent.

Jay,

I am planning for our return trip to Mena, AR to pick up our newly
painted plane and fly it back to Poughkeepsie, NY this weekend. The
fuel prices at all major stops (controlled tower with ILS approaches
etc) are around $5/gal. This will add $200 or so to fuel cost for this
trip in comparison to the pre-Katrina price of $3/gal. We will have to
divert to smaller airports (a bit out of our route with limited
facilities etc) in order to get 100LL at less than $4/gal. It is no
doubt that higher fuel prices have an impact on GA flying.

Another major factor is weather. Except for last week, the weather
in the Northeast had been awful with low ceiling, rains, etc. The few
days in between with clear skies were extremely windy. This bad
weather dampened all outdoor activities and not just flying. Our
recreational rowing club just had our last row last Saturday in perfect
weather! Weeks (or months) before that, we hardly had any good rowing
opportunities. We entered two boats for the Head of the Fish race in
Saratoga Springs Saturday before last. The women's 8 had only 3
practice sessions together. The mixed 8s rowed together the first time
at the race. It was no surprise that we came in at respectable last
and next to last place ;-) Hey, at least we did not humiliate
ourselves by lagging way behind.

With the recent change in daylight saving time, it gets very dark by
around 6pm. There goes weekday flying for many people. Weekends are
needed for chores such as leave rakings and yard cleaning. In my
neighborhood, it takes the typical homeowner two to three weekends to
clean up the moutain of leaves. It's just so many thngs to do and so
little time on top of so many expenses to meet and so little money.
Pilots are just average folks and no fat cats as you have always stated
;-)

Hai Longworth

Anyone else noticing this?

Yes! I flew to a popular spot for breakfast this last weekend, where a
usual arrival puts me at number 2 in the pattern, or number 1 and
looking for traffic. Sitting through breakfast and taxiing out to go
home, I'd have to say I saw, maybe three planes land...

I was struck at the time, how quiet it seemed, especially on a
beautiful Saturday morning with very few clouds!

Todd

In a word...Yes!



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:3focf.315149$084.6932@attbi_s22...
Mary and I have noticed a substantial (and depressing) drop off in personal flying of late. Often we are the only
plane in the pattern, nowadays.

Worse, we've notice far fewer people talking to ATC -- which indicates that this may not be a local phenomenon. On
Sunday, for example, we flew 90 minutes over to Rantoul, IL, and back, and heard maybe three other planes, the whole
way, outside of "working" aircraft. (And one of them was Jim Burns, who was with us!)

We *do* tend to fly at "off" times (Sunday afternoons; Wednesdays and Thursdays, mostly) -- but the change we're
noticing has been pretty dramatic since gas prices spiked. There just doesn't seem to be nearly as many people
flying.

Anyone else noticing this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Mary and I have noticed a substantial (and depressing) drop off in personal
flying of late. Often we are the only plane in the pattern, nowadays.

Worse, we've notice far fewer people talking to ATC -- which indicates that
this may not be a local phenomenon. On Sunday, for example, we flew 90
minutes over to Rantoul, IL, and back, and heard maybe three other planes,
the whole way, outside of "working" aircraft. (And one of them was Jim
Burns, who was with us!)

We *do* tend to fly at "off" times (Sunday afternoons; Wednesdays and
Thursdays, mostly) -- but the change we're noticing has been pretty dramatic
since gas prices spiked. There just doesn't seem to be nearly as many
people flying.

Anyone else noticing this?

Yes. We're noticed it particularly in our flying club. Five years ago,
the club had 20 members (about 10 were active, I believe) and two
airplanes. We now have one airplane, 10 members, but only four of us
who currently fly the airplane. And the four of us have flown the
airplane only 54 hours total.

Matt

Yes. We're noticed it particularly in our flying club. Five years ago,
the club had 20 members (about 10 were active, I believe) and two
airplanes. We now have one airplane, 10 members, but only four of us who
currently fly the airplane. And the four of us have flown the airplane
only 54 hours total.

Why so little, Matt? I would think the club format would do well to keep
costs low...?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Yes. We're noticed it particularly in our flying club. Five years ago,
the club had 20 members (about 10 were active, I believe) and two
airplanes. We now have one airplane, 10 members, but only four of us who
currently fly the airplane. And the four of us have flown the airplane
only 54 hours total.


Why so little, Matt? I would think the club format would do well to keep
costs low...?

The costs are very reasonable at $56/hour wet plus $90 per month in
dues. Well, we just raised the hourly rate to $66 because of the fuel
costs of late, but still a good deal for a retractable.

I can't speak for the others, but the main reasons for me are distance
to the airport (45 minutes one-way for me) and three kids, a wife, and a
job with a fair amount of travel. The distance to the airport is the
biggest one for me. When I owned my own plane and had it located closer
(25 minutes vs. 45), I was much more inclined to run to the airport when
I had a couple of hours and take a short hop. Also, my plane was at a
non-towered field and I could be in the air literally a couple minutes
after engine start. Even though ELM is a pretty sleepy airport, it
still takes 10-15 minutes to go from engine start to in the air. It
takes time to get the ATIS and call for taxi and then it often is a 5-10
minute taxi to the active. And we have to deal with a slow security
gate to gain access to the hangars, etc. Basically, on a very good day
with no unusual delays, it takes me 60 minutes minimum from my house to
the air. And often it takes closer to 90 minutes. So even a short
flight takes a Saturday morning or a full evening in the summer.

I also flew a fair bit on company busines when I owned my plane as I had
the insurance my employer requires for their GAP (General Aviation
Program). Unfortunately, since 9/11, I can't get the required insurance
($1MM/$500K). The club carries $1MM/$100K and the best non-owner policy
I've found also as the $100K/person limitation. I was flying 25 or more
hours a year on business trips which helped a lot, but I now end up
either driving on these or flying the airlines.


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:

The distance to the airport is the
biggest one for me. When I owned my own plane and had it located closer
(25 minutes vs. 45), I was much more inclined to run to the airport when
I had a couple of hours and take a short hop.

I also found that to be the case. After I moved from Franklin to Middletown (and
the plane moved from Manville to Old Bridge), my air hours went way down. In my
case, I also found the area down here less attractive to fly over.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

I can't speak for the others, but the main reasons for me are distance to
the airport (45 minutes one-way for me) and three kids, a wife, and a job
with a fair amount of travel.

Yeah, I hear that a lot.

Interestingly, in the last few days traffic has been sky-high (ouch!) at our
airport, with the pattern stuffed with planes of all types.

Maybe it was just a little lull I was sensing? Dunno...

Today's predicted winds of 40+ knots ought to keep the weekend pilots on the
ground...!

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