Hello Ron B
Good to see you have a go here on PPRUNE. I hope the light you spread is reflective.
I see that you make the point that student numbers/ flying hours have dropped off after 27/11. I aggre that it is not nessecarily because of the amount of ready cash about in the community in general.
But to assume that it is because of the aviation community in general not supporting NAS in the media is not a good ground to stand on.
How about just maybe the public are staying away beacuse of NAS and the REAL reduction in safety in our skies. The people out there a not inclined to belive eveything they hear, especialy from Pollies, lobby groups and media junkies like Dick. But when they hear the respected and normaly conservative pilots and air trafficers bieng so concered about something then they may listen more, hence the low numbers, its just as plausable as your theory.
Personally I self predicted a down turn in avaiation training some time ago, but my resoning was the them move to LSC which has caused major increases in the cost of learning to fly for the majority of our city dwelling population.
You attened HAZID, good for you. But just were did anybody say you PPL or private operators must stay away from OUR CTA. They did'nt, anybody can use CTA, sure you pay, but the vast majority of users are IFR RPT/charter operators who operate aircraft in a high performance cattegory and are happy (sometimes) to pay. Should we use a LESS safe system just to appease a small amount of operators??, its a fair question.
As a 20+ year pilot, GA instructor and >57000 pilot I liked what I saw at the recient WA RAPAC from AsA for the enhacment of NAS, it will put back a lot of the safety, in some aspects its an improvment but overall the NAS structure is to present less safe operating environment, and that does not have my support.
Thanks for your time, and good luck to AOPA. Just remember you need many diferent views to make a truly representive body, the proof is in the ability to get over the speed bumps, and to climb the mountian.
Richo