Three minutes to midnight...end is almost nigh for GA

[gassed budgie]

I had the opportunity recently to spend a number of hours walking around Moorabbin, something I probably hadn’t done for quite a few years as I usually fly in and then straight back out again.
The experience was underwhelming. I came away feeling depressed and questioning my continued fulltime involvement in the GA industry.
I started flying in 1978 and spent time at Moorabbin in 1980/1981 doing my commercial subjects. Nothing much has changed in the ensuing 25 years. In fact if anything at all has changed, it’s the pall of decay and deterioration that seems to hang in the air with some sort of semi-permanence as the whole place slowly wastes away.
The control tower had three layers of paint peeling off it and quite a number of buildings seemed to be unoccupied and derelict. Even a lot of the signage around the place appeared to be as it was twenty years ago! From what I could see there had been no significant investment or improvement to any of the major infrastructure on the aerodrome.
The majority of aircraft looked tired and past their use-by date, with some of the aircraft being used for training looking as though the best thing going for them would’ve been a can of petrol and a box of matches.
I spied a number of young students fussing over their aircraft with much enthusiasm and excitement, just as I did way back when. I felt like walking over to them and telling them to pursue another career and not waste their time with aviation. That was probably the most depressing bit for me. Feeling the way I did, was perhaps admitting to myself that my own time spent in GA over the last few years has been a waste and led me to a dead-end.
So six months down the track after the above revelation, I’ve decided that long term GA is not the place to be. The financial rewards simply aren’t there. I either leave the industry completely or look to the regionals ($20k on a Dash 8 endorsement then $45K’s p.a.? They can stick that too, the silly pricks will only get the pilots they deserve) or some other segment of the industry. Either way I feel a bit guilty, a bit like the rat deserting the sinking ship. As a full time GRD 1 instructor (and I reckon a good one) and charter guy, who’s going to come along and fill my position? Where I’m based, probably no-one.
Yet another regional centre with no instructor or flying school and another nail in the GA coffin.
We’ve got CASA, ASA and DOTARS (it was bad enough when we had just one) and all the bureaucracy and politicking that goes with it foisting their own particular agendas onto the industry, with the whole sorry mess well on the way to regulating GA out of existence.
Other enlightened bits of legislation such as the Aviation Security Act (that particular horse has already bolted) are a waste of time and simply inconvenience the aircraft owners and operators and demonstrate the pollies desire to be seen to be doing something, anything!
The organisations that purport to represent the industry move in different orbits and provide meaningless, ineffectual representation. They constantly seem to be at logger-heads with one another. This particular aspect of the industry never seems to improve and even here on pprune a lot of topics revert to slanging and bitch sessions.
The Insurance companies don’t get off free either. Ridiculously expensive and unaffordable premiums make it difficult for low time pilots to step up the ladder to more complex machines and gain that experience (I have to say after reading some of the waffle on 210 tips and hints post, I can probably see why they feel justified charging what they do) because the aircraft owner won’t pay the extra $4000 on the premium to put it on-line and I can’t blame them as I wouldn’t either.
Some sections of the government and its instrumentalities have been making noises about the age of the GA fleet but have not, will not and appear unable to offer any solution or incentive, financial or otherwise to start addressing this issue.
GA is surely but slowly dieing the death of a thousand cuts. For two decades now, it has been constantly dismissed, ignored, pummelled and beaten from all sides by those charged with the task of administering and fostering its growth, to the point where it is almost comatose and beyond recovery.
I love flying and will always fly, but I won’t be sticking around to see the last rites. Regrettably, with heavy heart its time to move on.

[mattyj]

Take your family to the middle east for a couple of years..fly a G4 for some oil dude 3 or 4 flights a month..spend all your time buying mattresses to stuff your cash in...even invest it in foolish schemes because you don't know what to do with it all..you'll soon feel better:ok:

[Ultralights]

my thought exactly gassed!! i gave up on my GA flying at the end of last year! and wont be looking back until there is a serious and effective attmept at its resurection. untill that occurs (if it ever will) i am getting my airborne fix flying RAA registered aircraft!

and dispite all the attempts of the RAA to fight off CASA, they now have been burdened with DOTARS regulations Re, securing of aircraft. sad days indeed!

On another note, the Gvts are complaining of infrastructure capacity, or lack of, yet the country is littered with aerodromes! next to empty skies! and no shortage of pilots and aviation trained people willing to see this indusrty be born again! why arnt we moving more freight by air?

but then again, australia wouldnt be australia without 3 layers of suffocating overgovernment and regulation!

what effect will the inevitable extinction of GA have on local and national economiies??

[bushy]

Gassed

GA is going through a huge shakeout which will last for some years. Like CASA, it has to be pulled apart and rebuilt. The two are to a great extent related.
When I first started flying for a living, almost everything was free. Free maps, charts, regs, flight tests, exams, landings, and parking. Qantas had a notice in the Brisbane office, saying that if you had a PPL and 500 hours they would like to talk to you.
GA was growing and the new aircraft made more things possible. (like in the major airlines now)

Then the Government introduced tax concessions for buying new equipment. And the freeloaders, taxdodgers, and the white shoe brigade moved in.
GA Sales boomed, and usually a charter licence went with an aircraft purchase.("no worries mate- I'll teach you to fly it in a fortnight, it's easy. And I'll get you a charter licence so you can make a quid with it.) So they got tax concessions on their new purchase (the investment allowance) but there was no "maintenance allowance"so there was only minimum maintenance performed. The big operators were usually the sales organisations and they did not do any real major maintenance, they sold their aeroplanes before engine overhauls etc became due. This was not sustainable without a continual turnover of new aircraft. And no-one else could match the rates.
So the GA charter industry was not sustainable from the beginning. It was a false economy, depending on freebees,and tax concessions.
Concessions like this are like alcohol. When the effect wears off, the problem is still there.
We have ended up with a third rate aviation industry, which can only function with new equipment. There is an extreme shortage of LAME's and maintenance organisations throughout the whole industry. Even qantas, with it's government protection is flying around with bits falling off their aeroplanes and all sorts of maintenance problems. GA has the same problems, but is regulated away from the money, so it's harder to fix.

The big operators also ran flying schools, to get more aeroplane buyers. I'm sure the military, and the major airlines encouraged this, to provide a pool of partly trained pilots. This grew into another industry, which had no sound commercial base. We now have an large group of angry young pilots who cannot find jobs and are very negative. They seem to have unrealistic expectations.

And the industry does not seem to trust the regulator. I dont think the finance industry does either. So long term finance, and long term planning are difficult.

So we have a sick industry which is regulated away from the money, underfinanced, has short term planning and an extreme shortage of maintenance facilities. And a regulator the industry does not trust. Pilots are mainly low time, negative, and thinking short term, because they consider GA to be a temporary ocupation.

Of course it's dying. And the "big operators" have taken their money and gone.

Sowhat of the future?.
Rationalisation.
Much of what city dwellers call GA is recreational flying and training, and will be lost forever to the Ultralights. (that's not being lost. We are all part of Australian aviation.)
Our regulator and regulations are being closely looked at and I have high hopes that there will be great improvements in due course. This is essential. I believe CASA uses safety rules to get commercial outcomes, and I wonder if they are authorised to do this.
Most importanly we MUST do everything possible to get more LAMES, and make better use of the ones we have got. Once again simpler rules, less paperwork, a trustworthy regulator and a better cash flow for operators. Usually these days, the chief engineer rarely touches a spanner because he is too busy with paperwork.

We have about 10000 GA aeroplanes, many of which are in poor condition due to inadequate maintenance. Many can be fixed easily given the right facilities, skilled people, and some money. There are very few new aeroplanes which are appropriate to replace them, and costs of the new ones is great, sometimes for machines that are not as capable as the ones we have.
And the "low operating costs" will only last till the first engine overhaul.
The next aviation industry which will develop in Australia wlii be refurbishing the GA fleet. We do not have the 10 billion or so needed to totally replace it with new ones.

So become a LAME and rent a hangar.

[flyby_kiwi]

Correct me if im wrong but it seems that by comparison the rotory wing guys generally have things better run that their fixed wing counter parts, by that i mean respectable hangers, up to date interior, etc etc.
Is it a case of having learned from the mistakes made by fixed wing or have they dicovered a secret ingredient?

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Just spent 1500 of my hard earneds flying up to YTEM for the flying weekend at the museum. I reckon for what it is worth YTEM has found out what a viable thing it is to have an aerodrome with a vibrant tenant on it. Oh, and if the AOPA AGM and dinner was anything to go by, then I think GA is still got a bit of struggle left in it:)

GA doesn't need more CPLs it needs more people spending money flying themselves about and having a ball. RAA has got it all over GA in spades as far as costs go. BUT, I do like the idea of being able to fly ANYWHERE I like. Either in the system or out of it:ok:

Regards

Mark

PS As for the political side of things I would have to agree with Bushie and OS. A political,cynical method to boost the unemployed figures AND the bs about EVERYONE must have a degree has cost this country dearly and will cost for at least another ten years. That and the corporate greed of the eighties. Funny, the stories I heard about most of the money in GA was there to get a tax loss as well as the investment allowance. White shoes were everywhere including earthmoving. Know of a lot of doctors who owned excavators who couldn't give a rats how they where run. .

[OneBall...]

Strangled Budgie, I don't know wbout the state of GA but if the above is how you feel then I think you should immediately re-evaluate your position as sole instructor at whatever school it is.

I don't believe you have the right attitude to be influencing young up-and-coming aviators with and try as you might to disguise it, as I'm sure you do, they will pick it up if they have an ounce if sense.

Take Matty's advice: Try offshore and you will appreciate flying more and a lot of other things, as well. Don't be one of these people who is too afraid to ever leave the safety net in Australia.

Leaving the school without an instructor should be the least of everyone's worries. This will be better than an instructor whose heart is not in the job.

Someone will take the job, don't worry. You did, didn't you???

[Counter-rotation]

I'm no legal expert, but in reading the CIVIL AVIATION ACT, it seems to me that this document stipulates that THE ONLY BASIS on which CASA may make a ruling is one of safety - ie. rulings based on commercial considerations are absolutely ILLEGAL.

As you said (and as I have seen) commercial pressure is one of CASA's favorite tools when attacking an operator they have simply decided (rightly or wrongly) "needs to go".

CR

[DeltaSix]

Gassed budgie,

I am doing exactly what mattyj is saying. I am moving overseas soon. I looked out into the world and found an A330 SO position.
With less hours than yours and after all the struggle of a grumbling tummy.

Of course that is not all I am to rely on coz it is difficult to live on that sort of salary with a wife. I have a business degree which gives me a bit of income on the side when I am not flying. I'm sure you can do something else on the side for the financial side of things.

I also have my eyes on the middle east - give that a serious consideration. I'll PM you on the details - this is heavy metal drivers they are after. I think this is the same as what mattyj is saying. It's time to get out of our comfort zone which is Australia and don't give these regulators the satisfaction of pushing us around.


Good luck and chin up bud.

D6 :p

[Squawk7700]

They tell me that Dr. Karl's $7,000 (plus flights) speech at Temora on the weekend was a shocking waste of money!

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Amazingly, the amazing man came across a bit flat. Some of his repartee was a bit too machine gun I think.Still got to meet him personally and have a chat. And he is a lot bigger in life than on my wireless:) I think a shocking waste is a little too harsh a description though. An interesting experiment for a better show next time.

[centurionII]

Ahh "Oddball",
I didnt see any negativity whatsover with gassed budgies post. If you read it properly, he explains his sadness for what has happened to the once flourishing flying training industry and what has become of it now. Its true the writing is on the wall for GA, not only at morrabbin gaap, but bankstown and archerfield as well. It is you that needs to face reality and accept that this is happening. Theres no negativity about it, just pure fact.:ouch:

[Chimbu chuckles]

Agree that YSBK, YBAF are shadows of what they were in the early mid 80s...presume YMMB is the same....but Redcliffe is flourishing....so aviation is not dead.... it's certainly sick and agree with all stated above about the Minister etc etc.

I would have to be one of the most pro aviation, nutcase enthusiasts ever born but I am finding myself re-evaluating. I love my job driving a widebody around the world...well Asia to the ME and EU, Oz,NZ...and I own a Bonanza...I will retire an airline pilot, that much I am never going to change but the Bonanza is on the market and I'll probably buy a sailing boat at some point instead of another aeroplane...I can't believe I just wrote that....but really the BS quota in GA is just too high....it's not a straight money thing because boats are at least as expensive and in many areas more so...you think hangarage is expensive? If you don't own a waterfront property then a mariner berth is about 4 times what hangarage costs/mth.

What I find the most galling is the constant BS from CASA, DOTARS, Govt etc.

I don't want much...I don't expect a free ride to any huge extent...but I don't expect constant mind numbing BS either....and constant mind numbing BS is all we seem to get from our elected officials via CASA, AsA and DOTARS.

What someone wrote above about the money wasted by feckwits is sooo true it just drives me nuts.

The main areas that aviation lets itself down with is just infrastructure...look at the marine industry...look at the yacht clubs etc...then look at GA.

Even an aeroplane nut like me looks at aviation as opposed to yachting, something I did a hell of a lot of as a teen/early 20s, including a bunch of Sydney Hobart Races starting in the mid 70s and my last being 84, and compare it to a days flying.

What would you rather do? Spend a day on a 40' yacht with a few beers, some nice food, girlies in Bikinis, sparkling water...or 60 minutes bouncing around in mechanical turbulence going nowhere?...because there is nowhere to go!!! Fully 75% of the times I get airborne in my Bonanza I am going to be landing back at Redcliffe a little while later because there are so few places to go..aeroclubs have very few facilities anymore because the alcohol revenues are not there to subsidise them, the patrons don't/can't hang around after a fly for a few beers because the RBT has stuffed that idea...all most clubs offer is a frozen meat pie and a microwave oven...in fact most don't even have that...most aerodromes are so sparsely populated now even the little milkbar on site has closed down and your lucky if a mobile lunch truck bothers to swing through....even when you do lob into an aeroclub remote from your home base there are so few people there and they are pre occupied with a flying lesson and then race off home a social visit from a pilot is inconveniant...no-one is just there these days to soak up the atmospere and talk aeroplanes....go to a yacht club a see what is going on...VASTLY different story.

On the one hand I take off from YRED for a burn around Moreton Is and see all the boats out sailing or anchored in nice bays as I roar past and think hmmm who's the dummy here...but then I fly my Bonanza south like I did last Monday to YMIG to visit my Dad and see my solictor about something. 3.1 air switch wheels up to wheels down...no dickheads wanting me to get half undressed before boarding a baby boeing and I land 10 minutes from where I want to be. No 1.5 hrs from front door to sitting in said baby blue boeing and then hiring a car and driving 2 hrs to dad's place at the other end after being treated like Osama Bin Laden at each end.

Watching the sun set over my left wing about half way back to YRED on Tuesday was truly magical...then I think how could I possibly sell this wonderfull magic carpet.

But the money I have tied up in my 35 yr old Bonanza would buy a very nice 40' sailing boat or even a 40 odd foot displacement motor cruiser...and I think of the wonderfull times I could spend on one of those...weeks at a time with not a DOTARS, CASA, AsA feckwit written rule in site, red wine at my side, skantily clad girlfriend, scuba gear hooked up and ready at a moments notice...lazy days....more red wine...ya get the picture:ok: and when the view gets boring ya just head off to a new location.

Slowly I am having GA beat out of me...and I only participate in GA for fun via aircraft ownership, having been airline flying now for 10 yrs...it's a little sad but I don't think I would fly light aircraft much as a hirer...I just wouldn't bother I think....makes no sense at all because hiring is dirt cheap by comparison.

If the above seems to ramble a bit from one extreme to the other it's because that's exactly how I feel about GA and aircraft ownership.

Chuck

EDIT: As an interesting point of comparison my job takes me to the UK a lot and I usually end up out at West London AeroClub at White Waltham with Taildragger. It has a lot more in common with Australian yacht clubs than Australian Aeroclubs. A vibrant bar/restaurant serving good food and cheapish booze, a lovely lawn area with wicker tables and chairs where you can sit and watch people aviating in all manner of aircraft from your bog standard Warriors through Tiger Moths and Yaks and goodness knows what else...the vast majority of people in there (and the place is invariably full) are just socialising. Where does that happen in Australia? I can't think of one place.

[Metro man]

Chimbu there is a saying, "If it flies, floats, or f***s rent it, don't buy."

Enjoy a couple of hours flying in a lightie on the weekend at $x/hr, then go home and let someone else worry about ADs, insurance, hangarage etc.

Rent a sail boat for the week and see the Whitsundays, let someone else worry about mooring, hull cleaning, painting etc.

Have a week in Bangkok/Phuket/Pattaya with no worries about divorce, child support, or coming home and finding all your shirts cut up etc

Cheaper and far less stressful in the long term :D

[chimbu warrior]

Metro Man is correct............

The AD's and maintenance on wives is horrifically expensive, and you just never can get them back to "as new" performance.

[Chimbu chuckles]

Yup...I have broken every one of the Flys/Floats/Fecks rules..multiple times except for the last one, which I only broke once and never again:yuk:

But I figure I am on this planet for a good time not a long time...and leaving too much to my only child will not be good for her:ok:

One of these days I'll sell the bonana ....but the half arsed attempts I'm making now will see that it's a ways off yet:E

Mighta been a fair bit of red wine in my last post....haven't had a Bangkok overnight for about a month too:E

Chuckles