Originally Posted by
Horatio Leafblower
Thanks Outnabout,
That's my question too.
Every time I speak to Ben Morgan he talks about Freelance flight instructors (will kill small flying schools, not big ones) and private Ride Share for PPLs in the UK (will hurt small charter organisations, not airlines or big charter orgs like Fly Corporate).
AOPA's approach has kicked the door down. Now that we're inside, I just hope we aren't wearing a suicide explosive belt
As one who ran my own school from the ‘70s for about 25 years I would agree with Ben Morgan’s call for independent instructors. ”Freelance” or independent instructors will not kill small flying schools they will create them. The last few small GA schools will mostly be gone by the time of transition deadline August. Where there used to be schools in hundreds of country towns there are now practically none, you can’t kill them twice.
No healthy training industry equals the death of GA. Call them independent or instructing without the totally unworkable AOC dog’s breakfast, including the super costly paperwork nightmare that is the latest flying school regime, either way it must change. A senior instructor near me had to put up $8000 just to start a school application. Two years later still nothing. In the US where 70% are trained by independent instructors, the instructor mentioned would have been training from day One.
Without pilots the cake shrinks to nothing, more pilots equals more cake to go around. Any of the few schools left will be busy training instructors to go out into the regions. In turn they need aircraft, maintenance, fuel etc.
In the past flying schools have baulked at the idea of the independent instructor for a short sighted fear of losing business, and CASA hated the idea of losing fees and power. I think most schools now would be less enthusiastic for that argument. In any case its up to government to do what is right for Australian aviation irrespective of sectional interest.
PPL cost sharing we had for years, for private ops up to 6 place aircraft. Small charter operators? Nearly all gone like the GA flying schools. Charter AOCs are nearly as impossible as is the regime for flying schools. A local Ag pilot with his own light twin thought to offer charter only to be told by his CASA FOI “don’t bother it’s all too hard.”
We have a very sick system, the fee gouging salary factory will not go down without a serious fight. They will gull the unwary with ploys and inducements, they will slow, stall or move at a creeping pace. They will whisper in the Minister’s ear all sorts of dire consequences and distortions, the MO ably put by Sunfish in this string.