VFE wote:
>>there's been a drop in all PPL(A) licence issues of around 1000 in the UK over the last 4 years - amazing considering prices have been almost frozen. General aviation is certainly in decline - an interesting thread would be what to do about it?! I honestly do not know how some schools continue to operate with such tight profit margins.<<<
Perhaps some of the figures from Flight Training News might be interesting. There are now about 100 microlight flying school and the same number of light aircraft flying schools. I think there are 99 of one and 100 of the other.
Now, I appreciate that many microlight schools are one man bands in a Portakabin, but some GA schools are little more than that too.
Also of interest is the number of light aircraft movements at Scottish airports as referenced in a Highland and Islands Enterprise report on Connel airfield referenced in the Oban thread. Quite simply, GA movements at Glasgow and Edinburgh have halved in the past decade.
No wonder, BAA want the commercial passengers for WH Smith etc.
The problem is that another part of the report says that student pilots are unwilling to travel more than 30 minutes to their lessons. So what other airfields etc are within 30 minutes of Glasgow and Edinburgh?
There are a couple, Cumbernauld being one. And when I started teaching microlights there, there was one GA school. Then there were three! (and then one went bust!) But there is nowhere to hangar an aircraft! (and if you find a space, you won't be able to afford it!)
So where do you go post-licence?
I, of course, own a grass airfield near Glasgow. My hangar is know as the "rubber hangar" because it seems to stretch to get just one more inside! But I have now even had to derig my microlight to get a paying customer in.
This year we have had eight students gain licences. Seven of them have bought their own aircraft. This is microlights - with prices from £1500 to £25,000.
How many GA students in Scotland have bought their own aircraft after gaining their licence this year? If they did, where would they hangar it?
That's the problem, in a nutshell.
No facilities.
Very best wishes,
Colin