Student-Pilot-UK, I feel like giving people like you a good F.....g Off!!!
So go away until you know what you are talking about.
Tonyr,
I disagree with your comments, but I respect your right to have different opinions to mine. But before I explain why I diagree, I must say that I find your above comments, abusive and unfair.
Just because the poster was a student pilot and probably has less experience than you, and happens to hold a different opinion than you, does not mean that they are any less valid than yours. Furthermore, it does not give you any right to make your above comments.
In particular, you have no right to tell someone to go away, simply because you don't agree with their opinion. PPrune is not your private network, and you have no right to tell someone here to go away. Student_Pilot_UK has everyright to be here, as do you.
When posting, you would do well to bear in mind Danny's comments at the top of this forum.
Student_Pilot_Uk, I hope you don't listen to the "go away" comments, and that you stick around. This place is usually much friendlier.
Tony, as to the point of this thread, this is why I disagree with your opinion (while I respect your right to hold it.)
Is all your flying private? If some of it is commerical, they whey shouldn't you pay for the services you use to help you earn an income?
In anycase, paying duty on fuel doesn't give you a a right to an individual forecast. We all pay a lot of duty on our motor fuel, much more than is annually paid on av-gas, yet that doesn't entitle any motorist to speak to a forecaster for free.
We can all get free weather forecasts (aviation specific), so why shouldn't you pay more if you need it personalised?
Duel on fuel, is not designed to fund developments in that sector. Does motor taxes all go back into motoring? It's simply a way of government collecting in funds.
To put it simply, government collect in a certain amount of funds, and they pay out a certain amount. If they want to provide more services, such as free personalised weather forecasts for aviators, then they must either raise more taxes, or cut other services.
They could raise everyones taxes slightly, for the purpose of giving you and me a free individualised forecast, but why should my neighbour, who can't afford to go flying, have to pay for my forecasts? Particularly when I have non-individualised ones freely available already?
Of course they could cut other services instead, and re-allocate the funding, but again, how would you feel when your father/mother/son/daughter is on a hospital waiting list when you are flying, simply because funding was re-allocated from health to fund individualised forecasts for pilots?
I'm privilaged enough to be able to afford, what is a very expensive hobby. I don't expect anyone else to pay additional taxes, or suffer reduced services so that I can get the benefits of an individual forecast. I'm quite prepared to pay for my own hobby.
I also suspect the met-office service would be abused, by people not bothering to use the current services, if it was free to speak to a forecaster, and thus a charge is necessarry. Not the level of charge is another issue altogether, and I do agree £17 flat fee is a bit much.
While I respect your reasons for holding a different opinion to me, you should also respect my reasons (and Student_Pilot_UK's) for holding a different opinion; they are no less valid than yours.
Regards,
dp