Originally Posted by
Dick Smith
Morno. Do you work for the Minister or the Department?
There must be another explanation for why aircraft numbers are down.
Yes. Roads are better but that is hardly the reason for such a drop off by flyers!
It takes days to drive to Birdsville from a capital city and only hours by plane!
Are Oshkosh numbers down as much?
I most certainly don’t. Your average Birdsville Races attendee these days probably doesn’t have a pilots license nor want one. People are happy to drive there a) because the roads are improved, and b) there are other events in the leadup to the races in surrounding towns that people would rather drive to.
You can’t compare Oshkosh to the Birdsville Races. One is a dedicated aviation event in a country with 250 million or so people, and the other is a horse race in an outback town. Yes the latter used to have a large aviation presence, but times change. The event has changed considerably.
What did you do to promote general aviation in your time at CASA Dick? How’s that user pays system working out?