GA is definitely in for a hard road ahead in my opinion. The extremely
high costs vs the limited public access and required training can hold
few positive aspects for the community considering the current
economic situation.

Last week our airport's FBO (Jet Air, Inc.) spun off its aircraft rental and
pilot training operation -- lock, stock, and barrel -- to another company
(Iowa Flight Training). This is a new twist (as far as I can tell) in that
the FBO is dumping (what it perceives to be) a money-losing operation onto a
completely separate organization.

Both companies are pleased with this arrangement, and (IMHO) it could work
out to everyone's advantage. It will be interesting to see (a) how our
airport commission handles this (it's always been a requirement that the FBO
provides flight training -- but it didn't specify precisely *how* this was
accomplished), and (b) how successful a dedicated flight school can be when
compared to the traditional FBO model.

Our FBO has always said that flight training and aircraft rental was like an
anchor around their necks, dragging them down financially. I sure hope the
new folks do not discover this to be true, or this new arrangement may be
short-lived.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"