Boxe-x
It's no rant, what you say is absolutely right.
But, as I say, the debate will go on.
On the one hand we have the ICAO PPL whose 45 hour (min) WW1 syllabus is just enough to cover basic handling and some basic nav (which, if you HAVE to teach a little bit of SOMETHING USEFUL, has to be visual nav).
On the other hand anyone with enough pence to fly anywhere has a working fridge, freezer, microwave, TV, VCR, car, etc. In fact the car might have a GPS in it. Then he/she goes to learn to fly and what turns up? A 1970 Mk 1 Cortina, original seats, original steering wheel. 99% of prospective customers would not touch this game with a bargepole.
So, those that do turn up tend to be those desperate to fly, and most of them can't really afford to anyway. In a purely business sense, the business attracts most customers from the wrong end of the market. Those with some money are usually attracted to other pursuits.
But the training business just doesn't get it. They blame everything on cost. They pushed for the NPPL. In the end, most of the NPPL takeup has been people who would fail the Class 2 medical.
So we will always get people saying that GPS is bad, bad, bad and one should stick to basics and learn those properly, young man...
In the meantime, new PPL figures are going down and down (and most of them drop out anyway in next to no time), the crowd of fairly regular self fly hire and syndicate flyers is ageing to the point where in 10-20 years time most of them won't be able to get their medicals, the fleet whose average age is 24 years now is getting almost a year older every year.
So the fields that depend on lots of landing fees (most of the bigger non-passenger-jet ones) on the "hamburger runs" will go down. The farm strips will survive OK, so we will always see some flying, but most of today's GA fields will either vanish or their personnel will disappear and grass will grow in the cracks in the runway (just like it does in quite a few already).
The CAA have the figures and trends before them and must see this. Anyone who runs an airfield, a school, or a maintenance shop, will see it also. But individually nobody can do anything about it.
But every time someone mentions modernisation, they get jumped on. In reality, carrying a GPS is about 1/10 of the modernisation which GA needs if it isn't going to sink. New modern planes, and modern operating procedures, are desperately needed.
But, as I say, the debate will go on. Enjoy flying while you can.
End of rant
