Very true George. My flight hours went down significantly after I had kids.
I expected to start a family back in 2000 with my then fiancée which was
part of the reason I chose to get the cheapest 4-seater I could get with
straight-forward maintenance. It also played into the decision to becoming
an owner in the first place because I knew I would have probably stopped
flying altogether because of all the reasons you stated. And if I took my
family up, it would only be in an aircraft where I was 100% confident of the
maintenance history.

I took on a partner after I had the first child to make the costs much more
palatable and reasonable. My "partner" happens to be my uncle and we have a
slightly non-standard agreement that's working quite well. IMO, partnerships
make sense for a large portion of GA ownership situations and even more so
for pilots with growing families.

That being said, I feel very lucky to still be able to pull this off. I'm
getting in the air more often but I know they won't be back to the levels
during my single/pre-family days but that's OK. Makes me cherish each hour
aloft.

Marco Leon

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:It4Ke.2234$D4.839@trndny07...
Jay Honeck wrote:

GA is one of the best things that can ever happen to a family. If only
more people realized this fact, we wouldn't be closing airports...

Very few people with a family are in a position to pay the cost in money,
time,
and risk to effectively partake in general aviation.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.