The "should and must" style of rhetoric as quoted by airwave indicates how unwilling some types are to listen to reasoned debate. Why "should and must" anybody "require" that they have their way, which could threaten the livlihood of thousands of people employed in the flying training and ancilliary industries legitimately going about their hard won business? If that sounds defensive, wonder how some of them would like it if people set up "el cheapo" versions of whatever it is they do for a crust outside their workplaces and "require" that they "should and must" accept amateurs attempting to interfere in their professional lives.
The cost of an AOC does NOT "add considerably to the cost of flying". The biggest cost I had when setting up my school was setting up the company and the purchase of the office computer and printer; the ops manual cost paper and inkjet cartridges, and the issue of the AOC cost about $300.00.
The cost of maintaining my AOC is around 0.0003% of my total annual running costs. It is things like the overheads of the premises, fuel, maintenance, insurance and wages/super/compo that dictate the flying rates. IE market forces, not CASA!
I'll now sit back and wait for the replies from people who have never run a flying school or held an AOC telling me how wrong I am!
[ 25 November 2001: Message edited by: Charlie Foxtrot India ]