If this doesn't verify it...

[Jay Honeck]

....I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
overall traffic is down -- way down.

Yet another data point: The $100 Hamburger website keeps track of the
number of new airport restaurants that have opened and the number
closed. According to today's announcement, so far this year only 17
new airport restaurants have sprung up - all across the country --
while 143 have closed.

This is scary. Although we've seen "blips" of activity this year,
overall we're still seeing way, way less air traffic than in past
years. The fact that so many on-field restaurants have locked their
doors bodes ill for all of us.

Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
dissolving beneath our wings...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[BillyBob]

Jay Honeck wrote:
> ...I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
> overall traffic is down -- way down.
>
> Yet another data point: The $100 Hamburger website keeps track of the
> number of new airport restaurants that have opened and the number
> closed. According to today's announcement, so far this year only 17
> new airport restaurants have sprung up - all across the country --
> while 143 have closed.
>
> This is scary. Although we've seen "blips" of activity this year,
> overall we're still seeing way, way less air traffic than in past
> years. The fact that so many on-field restaurants have locked their
> doors bodes ill for all of us.
>
> Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
> dissolving beneath our wings...
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

Lawyers
The FAA
Gas Prices
Insurance companies

All are coming to together to destroy aviation

So Sad

I wish I could go back in a time machine to around 1925
Grab a Bi-Plane with an open canopy and no radio and just fly

[Jay Honeck]

> I wish I could go back in a time machine to around 1925
> Grab a Bi-Plane with an open canopy and no radio and just fly- Hide quoted text -

What's amazing is that you can still do precisely that -- even
today.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Tom Conner]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> ...I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
> overall traffic is down -- way down.
>
> Yet another data point: The $100 Hamburger website keeps track of the
> number of new airport restaurants that have opened and the number
> closed. According to today's announcement, so far this year only 17
> new airport restaurants have sprung up - all across the country --
> while 143 have closed.
>
> This is scary. Although we've seen "blips" of activity this year,
> overall we're still seeing way, way less air traffic than in past
> years. The fact that so many on-field restaurants have locked their
> doors bodes ill for all of us.
>
> Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
> dissolving beneath our wings...
>

Yes, that it is an interesting data point. It is another way of looking at
the 2006 GAMA statistics which show the number of pilots decreasing each
year, while the average age is increasing.

Interestingly, the number of student pilots is remaining relatively
constant. I wonder if that means a sizable percentage of students are
foreign, or a sizable number of students drop out. Or both.

http://www.gama.aero/resources/statistics/index.php

[BT]

Airport restaurants do not "survive" on fly in customers..
the need the locals for survival...
so it is a restaurant that would have failed anyway..
granted.. in some areas.. the high cost of "airport footage rental space"
does not help..

BT

"BillyBob" > wrote in message
...
> Jay Honeck wrote:
>> ...I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
>> overall traffic is down -- way down.
>>
>> Yet another data point: The $100 Hamburger website keeps track of the
>> number of new airport restaurants that have opened and the number
>> closed. According to today's announcement, so far this year only 17
>> new airport restaurants have sprung up - all across the country --
>> while 143 have closed.
>>
>> This is scary. Although we've seen "blips" of activity this year,
>> overall we're still seeing way, way less air traffic than in past
>> years. The fact that so many on-field restaurants have locked their
>> doors bodes ill for all of us.
>>
>> Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
>> dissolving beneath our wings...
>> --
>> Jay Honeck
>> Iowa City, IA
>> Pathfinder N56993
>> www.AlexisParkInn.com
>> "Your Aviation Destination"
>>
>
> Lawyers
> The FAA
> Gas Prices
> Insurance companies
>
> All are coming to together to destroy aviation
>
> So Sad
>
> I wish I could go back in a time machine to around 1925
> Grab a Bi-Plane with an open canopy and no radio and just fly

[Bob Gardner]

I just read a sad story about the airport where I began as a fledgling
instructor. It floods more or less regularly when ever the Snohomish River
leaves its banks, and not only its expansion plans but its very existence is
threatened by a bevy of government agencies that don't know what to do about
it and are taking forever to decide. Meanwhile, the family that has owned
and nourished the place since forever is sending lawyer's kids to college
while they (the lawyers) joust with one another.

Bob Gardner

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> ...I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
> overall traffic is down -- way down.
>
> Yet another data point: The $100 Hamburger website keeps track of the
> number of new airport restaurants that have opened and the number
> closed. According to today's announcement, so far this year only 17
> new airport restaurants have sprung up - all across the country --
> while 143 have closed.
>
> This is scary. Although we've seen "blips" of activity this year,
> overall we're still seeing way, way less air traffic than in past
> years. The fact that so many on-field restaurants have locked their
> doors bodes ill for all of us.
>
> Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
> dissolving beneath our wings...
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[John Clear]

In article . com>,
Jay Honeck > wrote:
>
>Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
>dissolving beneath our wings...

I flew down to Harris Ranch today for lunch and landed on the
freshly repaved runway. I took two non-pilots with me as well, to
help spread the gospel.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

[buttman]

> I flew down to Harris Ranch today for lunch and landed on the
> freshly repaved runway. I took two non-pilots with me as well, to
> help spread the gospel.
>
> John
> --
> John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

Holy crap, I just got back from there not 30 minutes ago. Its a pretty
cool airport. Were you by any chance in a 172 without a back window?
There was an older 172 leaving just as we were about to shut it down
and fill up.

Theres an airport about 150 miles north of where I'm based called
Willows that I used to go to just about every night for a solid month.
Theres a really good cafe there that gets a lot of business. I just
counted in my logbook, and since August 1st, I've been there exactly
32 times. The reason it's so popular with the flight school I work at,
is because it's open 24 hours. Most other airport cafes in the area
have ridiculous hours like noon to 3:00PM Monday-Thursday. The only
time a plane is available long enough to fly there and back is during
the night, so it works out well. Oh, and the pie is the best in
California.

[John Clear]

In article . com>,
buttman > wrote:
>
>Holy crap, I just got back from there not 30 minutes ago. Its a pretty
>cool airport. Were you by any chance in a 172 without a back window?
>There was an older 172 leaving just as we were about to shut it down
>and fill up.

Nope, I was in an Archer. Left Harris Ranch around 2pm.

>Theres an airport about 150 miles north of where I'm based called
>Willows that I used to go to just about every night for a solid month.

I'll have to check it out. It is 123.4nm due north for me, according
to AirNav.


John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

[Deadstick]

> Jay Honeck wrote:
>
> Lawyers
> The FAA
> Gas Prices
> Insurance companies
>
> All are coming to together to destroy aviation
>

A healthy aviation industry benefits the insurance companies. The
insurance companies don't want to destroy aviation - we just want to
make a profit. If insurance rates are going up its because of poor
underwriting in the past, frivolous lawsuits or pilots making bad
decisions.

[Gig 601XL Builder]

Deadstick wrote:
>> Jay Honeck wrote:
>>
>> Lawyers
>> The FAA
>> Gas Prices
>> Insurance companies
>>
>> All are coming to together to destroy aviation
>>
>
> A healthy aviation industry benefits the insurance companies. The
> insurance companies don't want to destroy aviation - we just want to
> make a profit. If insurance rates are going up its because of poor
> underwriting in the past, frivolous lawsuits or pilots making bad
> decisions.

frivolous lawsuits.

[Gene Seibel]

On Oct 14, 4:53 pm, Jay Honeck > wrote:
> ...I don't know what does. Despite sky-high new aircraft sales,
> overall traffic is down -- way down.
>
> Get out there and fly, ladies and gents. Our infrastructure is
> dissolving beneath our wings...
> --

Making a $100 flight to buy a $6 meal is a pretty inefficient way to
support the "infastructure".
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

[Jay Honeck]

> Making a $100 flight to buy a $6 meal is a pretty inefficient way to
> support the "infastructure".

IMHO, airport restaurants are as important to GA as FBOs.

For decades, GA pilots have flocked to airport restaurants every
weekend, for the proverbial "$100 Hamburger". More than just a $6
burger, this weekly event supported local business and presented
pilots and aviation enthusiasts with the chance to rub shoulders.
This weekly cross-pollenation of pilots and non-pilots probably did
more to build the pilot community than any other single factor.

I remember eating in the "Sky Lounge" (or whatever it was called) in
the 1960s at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, WI as a boy. We'd have a
great brunch, and then go out on the observation deck to watch the
DC-6s, -7s, and 707s arriving and departing. I could spend hours
there, and that ignited my interest in aviation more than anything
else.

That restaurant and observation deck are long gone, now, along with
the opportunity for local Milwaukee kids and their families to watch
the airplanes over brunch.

I think the loss of 143 airport restaurants in just 12 months is just
the "canary in the coal mine", showing how far down GA flying has
fallen. It's truly scary.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"