How much longer?

On Apr 4, 9:47*pm, "Jay Honeck" wrote:
With Avgas topping five bucks a gallon, I find myself asking: How much more
will it take before GA is completely unaffordable? * At what price point
will all the current "weekend pilots" be driven from the market?

Example: While on our trip back from Florida a couple of weeks ago, we paid
$5.20 per gallon in St. Louis. *Since we needed 60 gallons, we paid over
$300 for a single tank of gas -- something I *never* thought I'd see.

That price has more than doubled in just the last few years, and there
appears to be no end in sight. *So the question is: How much higher must gas
go up before *you* hang up your headphones for the last time? * Anyone care
to predict what year the last personal flights will occur in America?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Well that's still only 2 bucks more than auto gas.

$2 more for fuel compared to a car is a small price compared to the
rest of the expenses of owning a plane.

If gas reaches $10 a gallon before the rest of the economy catches up
to that inflation everything will come to a grinding halt and the
masses won't have food in their grocery stores. Aviation will be far
down on the list of your concerns.

I am an ancient ex-pilot who lost his medical 30 years ago. Took a
senimental trip to the local (private) strip a few weeks ago for the first
time in years. Shot the bull with several guys at the shack for a while. One
of the older guys was active there when I was still flying. He mentioned
that back then, any pretty weekend day, there was always 2-3 aircraft
puttering around the strip, shooting landings or just enjoying. While the
number of aircraft hangered there was about the same (20-30), the strip was
pretty much dead by comparison. There was 2-3 guys in their hangers working
on their planes, there was not the sound of a single engine.

His guess as to why? Just too expensive nowdays to just climb into the plane
at will and fly for the sheer joy of flight a couple times a week like we
used to do. Just staying at an acceptable level of competency was expensive
enough. He said that few of the pilots there could fly without an eye to the
cost.

He mentioned that back then, any pretty weekend day, there was always 2-3
aircraft puttering around the strip, shooting landings or just enjoying.
While the number of aircraft hangered there was about the same (20-30),
the strip was pretty much dead by comparison. There was 2-3 guys in their
hangers working on their planes, there was not the sound of a single
engine.

My wife and I still fly a couple of times per week, and that's true
everywhere we go now. Places we used to always see/hear airplanes are
eerily quiet now.

It's weird -- supposedly Cirrus is selling all these new airplanes, but I
sure don't know where in hell they are flying. We flew to Florida and back
two weeks ago, and rarely saw/heard anything smaller than a King Air.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"