Avgas in France has reached $7.50/gal !

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:kw79e.1133$r53.619@attbi_s21...
I made one statement, and it is verifiable as fact: The French are
dunderheaded for taxing their aviation fuel to the point where no one can
afford it.

Jay, you are the dunderhead - sure the fuel is taxed as it is but you are
wrong when you say no one can afford it. There are thousands of French
pilots flying every month, like there are Brits, Germans etc. We pay our
way, with no tax $ subsidising our pleasures, on top of the fuel there are
user fees too for IFR.
We might not be able to fly as much but we enjoy it probably more because
there we do have to make the odd sacrifice.

Your statement is not verifiable as a fact, if no one could afford it there
would be no flying. As there is flying then people can afford it.

Strangely, I could find no statistics about French pilots. Anyone know
how many pilots are in France?

However, here are the French airport statistics:

Airports - with paved runways:
Total: 283

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 195

Heliports:
3

In other words, France has about the same number of airports as
Wisconsin and Illinois -- making French aviation hardly a topic worthy
of continued discussion.

Anyone who might doubt that aviation is dead in France (by comparison
with the US) should note that the US has more than 19,000 airports,
meaning that France has around 2% of the airports we have.

Some more stats from France:

Category of Aircraft / Number of aircraft
Aeroplane 6347
Amphibius 1
Balloon 675
Glider 1669
Gyroplane 1
Helicopter 792
Other 63

I'm assuming that this number includes all French commercial airliners.
Since the US has around 211,000 aircraft, France has about 3% of the
number of aircraft of the US.

So, I guess the bottom line is that aviation in France is simply
irrelevant, dead or not. Given the miniscule number of airplanes,
airports, and pilots in France, it's surprising to me that they haven't
eliminated avgas taxes all together.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

BTW: With France's population of 60 million (compared to the US
population of 295 million), statistically France should be expected to
have around 42,000 aircraft and 3,800 airports, all things being equal.


Since they have 6300 and 481, respectively, I'd say their avgas prices
have done a remarkably good job of killing aviation in France.

Of course, this comparison doesn't take into account France's tiny (by
comparison) land-mass (which means they don't have room for as many
airports), but it nevertheless highlights what a horrendous impact
outrageous over-taxation can have on aviation.

What a dunderheaded thing to do!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination

tr A familiar sight in European airports is a certain American,
tr he usually wears a floral shirt that is long overdue for a
tr wash, he has a camera hanging around his neck, he is always
tr red and perspiring profusely, he almost always has a wife
tr called Martha who sits at least 200 ft away from him, and he
tr holds very loud conversations with her, with no regard to the
tr other passengers who have the misfortune to be seated between
tr them.
[cut]
tr And you know what? most of the people who meet this asshole
tr think that that is what Americans are like. They dont even
tr realize that there are another 300 Americans in the airport
tr that they are not even aware of because they are behaving like
tr reasonable human beings The ones that are actually
tr representative of your Nation! (The really bright ones are
tr even disguised as Canadians but thats another thread

"JH" == Jay Honeck writes:

JH I find it hilarious that my single observation about the
JH French -- their dunderheadedness about taxing Avgas to $7.50
JH per gallon -- has been embellished now to include things like
JH Tony's statement, above.

Jay, what you don't understand is that you are the fat slob in the
floral shirt making an ass of himself and his countrymen by insulting
entire countries in a public place. The rest of us are the 300 other
Americans who don't want to be grouped with you.

Unlike the airport, here in Usenet some of us are criticizing your
statements loudly. But this isn't for your benefit. No, the protests
are for the non-US pilots and aviation aficionados reading this group.
We, the 300 bystanders, are trying to let them know that you are a
minority; that many, even most, Americans are not shallow bigots.

Morgans wrote:

World class university? Ha! The Ohio State University has more than 15,000
people employed, just to clean the toilets! VBG

So OSU puts out more s**t, big deal.

The university of Iowa's doctoral program is ranked #57 in the U.S.; it's #19 if
all you count is public colleges. The undergraduate business school is #32 in
the nation. The undergraduate Engineering college is #59.

Dunno if that's "world class", but it's in the first tier of American schools.

All data from "America's Best Colleges", by U.S. News & World Report.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"JH" == Jay Honeck writes:

JH In other words, France has about the same number of airports
JH as Wisconsin and Illinois -- making French aviation hardly a
JH topic worthy of continued discussion.

And Iowa has less airports than either Wisconsin or Illinois, making
Iowa even less relevant to any aviation discussion. So when are you
stopping your posts, so we can talk about *real* aviation states, like
California or Texas?

:-) for the humor impaired.

"JH" == Jay Honeck writes:

JH BTW: With France's population of 60 million (compared to the
JH US population of 295 million), statistically France should be
JH expected to have around 42,000 aircraft and 3,800 airports,
JH all things being equal.

And we should have bullet trains, great scenery, world-class cities,
and great wine and cheese. Well, California has all but the first.
How's Iowa doing? World-class hog-calling contests, maybe?

JH Of course, this comparison doesn't take into account France's
JH tiny (by comparison) land-mass (which means they don't have
JH room for as many airports), but it nevertheless highlights
JH what a horrendous impact outrageous over-taxation can have on
JH aviation.

JH What a dunderheaded thing to do!

It's actually rather intelligent. Smallish land area, larger
population, means it's ideal for high-speed transit: airlines and fast
trains. Add some good highways, which they have, and voila, a pretty
decent place to live.

Jay Honeck wrote:

Actually, the University of Iowa is routinely ranked in the top ten in the
country, and it's generally considered number one in the U.S. for literature
and writing.

Source? The latest rankings I find rank the doctoral program at #57, the
business school at #32, and the engineering school at #59. It's not even on the
charts in the liberal arts field.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
newsPh9e.27133$nH4.19733@trndny05...
Morgans wrote:

World class university? Ha! The Ohio State University has more than
15,000
people employed, just to clean the toilets! VBG

So OSU puts out more s**t, big deal.

Com'on George, lighten up! See the VBG? That means very big grin, by the
way.

It was meant as a good natured jab, directly at Jay, whom I classify as a
friend. (see what lows I have to stoop to, Jay?)g
--
Jim in NC

Jay, what you don't understand is that you are the fat slob in the
floral shirt making an ass of himself and his countrymen by insulting
entire countries in a public place. The rest of us are the 300 other
Americans who don't want to be grouped with you.

Sure, "Bob." Whatever.

You are starting to make the same sound as one hand clapping.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"