Good question, Gary. My gut feeling is that most of it is out of our control. It boils down to economics. When people feel good about their future and aren't afraid to spend some extra cash on toys instead of stashing into savings because they are confident the paycheck will keep rolling in, they tend to spend their discretionary income on boats, planes, new cars, etc. When things are tight, and their confidence is destroyed, extra spending gets reigned in in favor of saving for a rainy day. Or worse, it's already raining at their house and the market is flooded with cheap toys that aren't selling. My son is shopping for a 172 now because they have actually come down to what he can afford. How does that make a guy feel who is sitting on an inventory of $100,000+ new LSAs? When people have jobs and feel confident, they will spend again. I just talked to a local FBO who told me how much his gas sales were down from last year and the year before. Incredible. People aren't flying. And they aren't buying boats, either. I agree that instruction is difficult to get. It's harder to be an instructor than it used to be. I'm seriously thinking of quitting the examiner thing. The effort required vs. demand for examiners is low. I wish I had a simple solution, Gary, but honestly the past was cheaper than the present and like you say, our whining won't take us back there. Cheap airplanes, cheap gas, and confidence that next month's paycheck will be there will take us back there. We can fly all the young eagle rides we want, and kids get excited, but they won't get into aviation if they can't even get a job. And flying for a living.... the military is competitive and requires a long commitment and civilian jobs start out under $20,000 per year in many cases. Who can afford the training and then pay it off at that rate?
I don't think I helped paint a very rosy solution. I think the FAA rules are killing us. The requirement to buy a new trike to replace my perfectly good one has driven me out of training. I can't justify the expense or the liability and am turning down many wanna be students. The LODA was a good idea, but the FAA can't get their arms around it. Transition training isn't the answer, it has to be able to be used for primary training to be useful. The whole thing is a bummer. Much of the problem falls on normal people behavior, too. I thin the intent of SP was to revitalize the lower end of aviation. Unfortunately (my opinion) people in general don't want that. I have had SP applicants show up for checkrides in planes with glass cockpits. That is not a Cub. Nor is it a stick trike. I just read an article in AOPA that the lawsuit has finally arrived... Garmin is being sued in a mid air collision case because they forgot to warn the pilot that he has a responsibility to look out the window. Good grief. And I want to instruct in this environment?
Jim
From: Gary N Orpe
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 10:29 PM
Subject: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Challenge
I challenge the group to come up with a reasonable way to increase the
interest and participation in Sport Pilot rating and craft. Can you give us
a list of things we can do? 1-2-3-4 etc.? Let's try this coming from the ga
side, ul, or first time pilots or any other concerns or positions. Let's
quit complaining about it and do something about it. Forget about how it was
or used to be, that is all gone now. This is brand new and chucks all that
used to be in the certified arena of yesteryears. Any ideas (be
polite).....?
Gary N Orpe
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