We're getting old, folks...

Clearly, one of the biggest factors in flying is the cost.

Some, maybe. When I began my private ticket in 1973 I paid $24
per hour , dual, whcih was about a day's pay for me at that time, at 20
years old. Now, we charge about $150/hr dual, same sort of airplane,
which is a bit more than what the average 20-year-old around here
collects in a day. The difference, I suppose, is the lawyers' share.
Of course, with the oil/gas boom we're having in Alberta, there
are kids making $25 and $35 an hour, but they're buying $60,000 trucks
and big houses, not flying lessons.
Much of the big burst in flying came when the kids who were too
young to fly in WWII got old/rich enough to take lessons. They'd
watched the newsreels of the fighters and got the bug. Flying is now
more than 100 years old and the novelty has worn off for the younger
generations. Further, many of the PPLs I knew in the '70s get their
tickets, then flew another 10 or 20 hours until the family realized
that there were more urgent things to do with that money. Flying around
for an hour on a weekend gets a little stale for many unless there's a
more significant point to it.
Some of the reluctance of the public to start flying is their
perception of us as pilots. We can be arrogant and snotty, as if we're
so superior, and it turns them off. Most men would take lessons if they
had the chance; I get a lot of new aquaintances telling me they'd
always wanted to get their Private License. They seem to think that
they're somehow incomplete without having mastered it; perhaps some
discreet advertising along those lines might work. Plenty of other
sports use it.

Dan

In article .com,
wrote:
so superior, and it turns them off. Most men would take lessons if they
had the chance; I get a lot of new aquaintances telling me they'd
always wanted to get their Private License. They seem to think that
they're somehow incomplete without having mastered it; perhaps some
discreet advertising along those lines might work. Plenty of other
sports use it.

I've certainly had some acqaintances tell me they wished they could
take lessons; they were all male. But I think that the advertising you
need to do should be targeted toward females. Like Jay said, it's very
common that a husband likes flying, but a wife does not (I'm in that
exact situation). I've never heard of the reverse. If more wives were
into flying, it would mean more active pilots, which would have a whole
lot of positive secondary effects.

--Ken

Like Jay said, it's very
common that a husband likes flying, but a wife does not (I'm in that
exact situation). I've never heard of the reverse. If more wives were
into flying, it would mean more active pilots, which would have a whole
lot of positive secondary effects.

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

My wife, Mary, is living proof that flying is NOT an all-male
pass-time, but I know she likes to hang out at the hangar entertaining
friends nearly as much as she likes the flying. So how do we make the
airport more SOCIAL?

As with so many things in life, if we can get the chicks into it, us
guys will have a much easier time...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine?

Cessna's working hard at it.

g,d Jose
--
You can choose whom to befriend, but you cannot choose whom to love.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ps.com...
Like Jay said, it's very
common that a husband likes flying, but a wife does not (I'm in that
exact situation). I've never heard of the reverse. If more wives were
into flying, it would mean more active pilots, which would have a whole
lot of positive secondary effects.

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

My wife, Mary, is living proof that flying is NOT an all-male
pass-time, but I know she likes to hang out at the hangar entertaining
friends nearly as much as she likes the flying. So how do we make the
airport more SOCIAL?

As with so many things in life, if we can get the chicks into it, us
guys will have a much easier time...

This is like trying to get women to take engineering in college. Although
they have the intelligence, for whatever reason, women would rather get a
business degree than an engineering degree. My theory is women think in
business they will be expected to dress nice, but in engineering they will
not. Since, all things being equal, a woman would rather spend her money on
clothes, then a business degree will help her reach that goal. Therefore,
the secret to getting women into flying is to make flying a fashion
statement that requires the participant to waste money on clothes.

In article om,
Jay Honeck wrote:
So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

I can only comment on my situation, but I don't think it's uncommon.
The issue with my wife is not the lack of "feminity" of flying; she has
an interest in model trains, which is a very male-dominated hobby in my
experience. Her issue with flying boils down to her fear of dying in a
fiery airplane crash.

I suspect that is really an issue of lack of familiarity; she didn't
know anyone that was a pilot growing up (neither did I, FWIW), and as
a result she perceives flying as something strange and unusual. If
she had flown in a GA plane as a child, or even been on a Young Eagles
flight, her attitude would be very different. I am not sure what
the solution is here, other than to get more pilots into the system.

That's why I think Sport Pilot is important for the long-term health
of GA. The people now that I see who are active GA pilots seem to fall
into one of three categories:

- They make it an integral part of their lifestyle (that's obviously
you, Jay :-) ). I think relatively few people have this option.
- They use it for business and can write off part of their aviation
expense. This doesn't seem to be an option for anyone who works
for a large company; when I've talked with other people in my
field, they _all_ told me that they have explicit corporate policies
against using GA for corporate travel (I'm in the same boat).
- They have plenty of spare cash, or somehow they got a plane on the
cheap. Or they have figured something out to make plane ownership
affordable that has escaped me.

I think Sport Pilot can work for people like me; they've got _some_
spare cash to devote to flying, but not enough to spend on a bigger
plane. I'm not talking about the $80,000 Cubs, but I've seen a few
planes in the $50,000 range that could even haul around a few fatasses
like me. Split that with one other person, and you've got a reasonable
new car payment.

My wife, Mary, is living proof that flying is NOT an all-male
pass-time, but I know she likes to hang out at the hangar entertaining
friends nearly as much as she likes the flying. So how do we make the
airport more SOCIAL?

I dunno ... I have never seen any sort of social life at any of the
airports that I've been to, much less anything I'd think my wife would
be interested in. Most of the airports I've visited have been lifeless,
depressing places. If there was some sort of social life associated with
aviation, I think it could maybe get my wife interested in flying; she
would at least get a sense that "normal" people do it. Right now I
think she thinks that flying is reserved for rich people and wackos
like me :-/

--Ken

Jay Honeck wrote:

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

Well, the first step is to make the pre-flight inspection something that can be
done in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

Probably the same way you make motorcycling more feminine.

Jose
--
You can choose whom to befriend, but you cannot choose whom to love.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On 25 Dec 2005 14:56:35 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

So what's the solution? How do we make flying more feminine? How do
we attract females to the airport?

My wife, Mary, is living proof that flying is NOT an all-male
pass-time, but I know she likes to hang out at the hangar entertaining
friends nearly as much as she likes the flying. So how do we make the
airport more SOCIAL?

I'm not sure there is a solution Jay. Women aren't men. On the
whole, they don't enjoy the same things men do and don't think in the
same way. Where men might see flying as a terrific way to get a good
view, despite the cost, the women might see only the danger and/or the
cost.

I'm generalizing a great deal, but women really are different from
men. We can't change that, not sure we would want to.

Corky Scott

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
What the heck kind of GA are we going to have in 25 years, at this rate?
What can we do to arrest this rate of decline?

The FAA needs to add the category "spacecraft", class "single stage land"
to the list of possible certifications. Putt-putting around the atmosphere
is so last millenium!

If Wallace and Gromit can fly a home-built to the moon, why can't I?

Cheese anyone?