On Feb 18, 6:00 pm, "Chris" wrote:
Read the following in the February edition of AOPA magazine by Thomas Haines
the editor in chief.

"General aviation of the future may look like that in Europe today -
where user fees have existed for years. There only the ultrawealthy fly
anything. The wealthy fly microlights and non of them enjoy the robust
infrastructure that we enjoy in this country."

If ever the cause against user fees gets undermined it is by rubbish like
this being written by so called intelligent people.

European GA is full of ordinary people who love flying, sure it is expensive
(gas at $9 a gallon) but I defy anyone to say that they don't have to make
some sacrifices somewhere to fund their flying especially if you have a
family.

As for the robust infrastructure - well for the most part we don't need it.
Enough people on this forum say FSS is a waste of time and money.

Go to any car park at a local airfield and you will see a range of cars from
the smart to the beat up testifying to the breath of people who fly. Same
here in Europe.

To say that flying in Europe is only for the ultra wealthy is not only
wrong, it is silly.

Has the user fees debate got to the stage of throwing out such crass
propaganda? Is there a need to tell such lies?

Do you guys believe it?

I have never flown in Europe, so I can't challenge what you are
saying. However, I do occasionally fly with pilots visiting the U.S.
from Europe. They were all very wealthy businessmen, and every one of
them expressed amazement at the low cost of flying here. I took one
pilot into a Class C airport and did several touch and goes, and he
could not stop talking about it for days about how those landing would
have cost him hundreds of dollars in Germany.

Even in the U.S. the cost of flying has been going up faster than
inflation. Most pilots here are from an above-average income. Once I
had a student who worked at a fast food restaurant and walked to the
airport because he did not own a car, but those are exceptions.

If flying is not so bad in Europe, why do we have so many schools in
the U.S. that cater to European pilots, and even European airlines run
their training programs in the U.S?