Google Madness wrote:
Twenty years ago I almost got into flying, I'd even taken my Discovery
Flight and was all set to dive in. Then my wife-to-be put the kabosh
on it saying it was too much money.
Now money isn't so much an issue anymore and I'm all set once again to
follow my dream of having my PPL.
But, I've heard so many depressing things about the state of ( and
future of ) GA I'm wondering if the era of GA has passed me by.

Here's one article, like many others that I've read, that expresses
many of the issues that sounds so dismal for GA. I'm now seriously
considering scrapping the idea of a PPL once again but I'd like to
hear from some people out there if the situation is not really as bad
as this sounds.
http://www.megginson.com/blogs/lahso...ts-to-general-
aviation/
Thanks

There have been doomsday predictors for GA predictors since the early 80's.
In some ways they have all been right in other ways they have all been
wrong.

Let's look at the blog you posted.

1. The end to Avgas: I've been hearing this for years. But every week the
truck still shows up at the airport and dumps a load of 100ll. If he stops
I'll start bringing my own Mogas. If I get to the point that I can't find it
without Ethanol in it I'm OK because the plane I'm building will run ion it
if I have to.

2. (In)Security: We are currently in a war. This war is probably going to go
on a while but there has never been an attack with GA aircraft. Yes there
are more security procedures but they really aren't effecting that many of
us. Part of me thinks the best thing that could happen is some terrorist
slams a 150 into the side of a nuke plant. The outcome would show that there
isn't a threat from light aircraft.

3. Airport closures:Yes airports have closed. More will but there are still
lots of them out there.

4. Maintenance: Airplanes have never been cheap to buy or operate. Yet I'm
building a plane that is capable of carrying me and a passenger with full
fuel and a little over 100 Lbs. of baggage for 4 hours at 135 mph while
burning 5 gph. The nice part of building is I'll be able to work on it
myself.

5.User fees: The numbers he quoted are significantly higher than any plan
I've seen legitimately put forward. The plan being debated now is to raise
the tax on Avgas 50 cents a gallon which will increase my cost by around
$2.50/hour. So, if I fly 100 hours/year the cost will average out to around
$0.68 per day. I can live with that and should I decide I can't I'll switch
to Mogas. There are some user fees being promoted that would charge you at
the largest airports but as I said there are plenty of airports out there.

Now some positive things happening in GA.

1.We have access to technology that you couldn't have seen in F-15 years 20
years ago.

2.The FAA with a lot of pushing from EAA and AOPA have created the LSA
license and aircraft certification standard that will allow you to buy a
brand new 2 place aircraft comparable to the one I'm building for less than
$100K. Take a 16 hour course and you will even be able to work on you own
LSA aircraft.

3. The homebuilt industry is at an all time high. There are 1000's of people
building planes that out perform in one way or another anything that has
been built by Cessna or Piper.

You didn't mention why you wanted to fly but if it is for business, travel,
or just punching holes in the sky there are lots of options and they aren't
going away anytime soon.