Gloom

EridanMan wrote:

I Bought my bird/passed my check ride at 24, I'm now 25. Being a
pilot in my generation (The "boomerang generation"... how's that for a
distinction) has been a weird experience. Let me put it this way -
when I told my highschool friends that I had just purchased an
aircraft, the reaction I received was... well, frankly, about akin to
that I would I have expected if I had told them I had just been
selected as an astronaut. Its not that they didn't respect it. It
was just that, for this generation, so sheltered by parents who never
wished for them to feel rough ground on their feet, the concept of any
one of their peers taking on a roll with so much risk and
responsibility attached was _literally_ beyond their capacity to
comprehend. "You WHAT?!" "Isn't that dangerous?" "Don't you get
scared?" "That's so cool... I wish I could do that..." The response
ranges from horror to disbelief to jealousy... the only attitude sadly
missing is "cool, how can I get into that?" The idea that flying an
aircraft is an option available to them simply does not exist.


This is the kind of mentality public education likes to breed...
easily intimidated, little creativity, lemming-like acceptance,
intolerant of individualism. That makes for a mere easily controlled
population... who won't tend to develop any aspirations. No
child left behind... no child allowed to get ahead.

"kontiki" wrote in message
...
EridanMan wrote:

I Bought my bird/passed my check ride at 24, I'm now 25. Being a
pilot in my generation (The "boomerang generation"... how's that for a
distinction) has been a weird experience. Let me put it this way -
when I told my highschool friends that I had just purchased an
aircraft, the reaction I received was... well, frankly, about akin to
that I would I have expected if I had told them I had just been
selected as an astronaut. Its not that they didn't respect it. It
was just that, for this generation, so sheltered by parents who never
wished for them to feel rough ground on their feet, the concept of any
one of their peers taking on a roll with so much risk and
responsibility attached was _literally_ beyond their capacity to
comprehend. "You WHAT?!" "Isn't that dangerous?" "Don't you get
scared?" "That's so cool... I wish I could do that..." The response
ranges from horror to disbelief to jealousy... the only attitude sadly
missing is "cool, how can I get into that?" The idea that flying an
aircraft is an option available to them simply does not exist.


This is the kind of mentality public education likes to breed...
easily intimidated, little creativity, lemming-like acceptance,
intolerant of individualism. That makes for a mere easily controlled
population... who won't tend to develop any aspirations. No
child left behind... no child allowed to get ahead.

Precisely!

And phrased much better that the diatribe that I was tempted to write.

Peter

Jay Honeck writes:

He went on to state that Piper would no longer be able to provide
parts support for "ancient" aircraft, and tossed out a "maximum" age
of 25 years. Of course, the room was packed with people flying planes
that were, on average, 30 years old -- so the room became silent at
this quasi-announcement. (No one is quite sure if he was really
"announcing" this change, or if he was just floating the idea...)

Quite surprising, given that the average age of small GA aircraft is above 30
these days (around 35, I think).

Get out there and FLY, people!

On whose dime?

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Jay Honeck writes:

He went on to state that Piper would no longer be able to provide
parts support for "ancient" aircraft, and tossed out a "maximum" age
of 25 years. Of course, the room was packed with people flying
planes that were, on average, 30 years old -- so the room became
silent at this quasi-announcement. (No one is quite sure if he was
really "announcing" this change, or if he was just floating the
idea...)

Quite surprising, given that the average age of small GA aircraft is
above 30 these days (around 35, I think).


Soi what? You don't fly anyway

On Jun 18, 2:30 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
On whose dime?

Get a job.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Jay Honeck writes:


Get out there and FLY, people!

On whose dime?

I don't know any pilots looking for handouts, so the answer would be on my
dime.

In your case, you're 'pretending to fly' on the electric company's dime.

Jay:

Strange as it sounds, the LSA designation could be a door through
which future pilots can join the ranks. Younger crowds simply can't
juggle the expense of raising families, paying mortgages and flying,
while the older crowd has already paid off most of those bills and can
funnel cash to their flying pursuits.

The unfortunate thing is this: Pilot groups spend more time paying
lobbyists and fighting the Government than marketing flying to the
general public. the result is that the forces that wat to tax us out
of existence are the ones that define us to the public, and when we
die out, nobody will care. Our numbers will get older and die off,
and that will be that.

We must make the general public know that the little airport in town
is necessary to them (not to us -- we know how important it is), and
how becoming a pilot can be within their reach. If we define
ourselves as necessary, and not just an old folks' vanity group, we
will have allies to help fight to lower or eliminate user fees, bring
the overall cost of general aviation down, and swell our ranks with
people who still have their prostate.

Unless we get off our collective butts, the "writing on the wall" will
be carved on GA's tombstone.

AJ Harris

AJ wrote:
We must make the general public know that the little airport in town
is necessary to them (not to us -- we know how important it is), and
how becoming a pilot can be within their reach. If we define
ourselves as necessary, and not just an old folks' vanity group, we
will have allies to help fight to lower or eliminate user fees, bring
the overall cost of general aviation down, and swell our ranks with
people who still have their prostate.



I love to fly. I love the fact that I have achieved something that was a
lifelong dream of mine. I started at 40 yrs old. Now I'm 43. I'm as
passionate about this as anybody however...

I do not get this argument. I would like to understand it. But why is
the little podunk airport important? 3B3 Sterling, Mass, offers very
little to the local economy, if anything. KFIT, my home base, offers
very little to the local economy, a couple of shops, a restaurant, a few
commercial flights (Part 135) per week. Are they that big a deal? KORH
is vastly underutilized, it is 30 minutes away by car. So seriously, I
do not understand the argument about saving every airport.

KC

I do not get this argument. I would like to understand it. But why is
the little podunk airport important? 3B3 Sterling, Mass, offers very
little to the local economy, if anything. KFIT, my home base, offers
very little to the local economy, a couple of shops, a restaurant, a few
commercial flights (Part 135) per week. Are they that big a deal? KORH
is vastly underutilized, it is 30 minutes away by car. So seriously, I
do not understand the argument about saving every airport.

Just curious: How many long cross-country flights have you made with
your family?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
I do not get this argument. I would like to understand it. But why is
the little podunk airport important? 3B3 Sterling, Mass, offers very
little to the local economy, if anything. KFIT, my home base, offers
very little to the local economy, a couple of shops, a restaurant, a few
commercial flights (Part 135) per week. Are they that big a deal? KORH
is vastly underutilized, it is 30 minutes away by car. So seriously, I
do not understand the argument about saving every airport.


Just curious: How many long cross-country flights have you made with
your family?

me, none. If you remember from a bygone thread, my wife won't fly w/ me.
I fly a few times a year to BHB from KFIT and a few time around Southern
New England. 5o-75 hrs /year.

KC