Some more very interesting posts.
My last one on this as I've far better things to do with my time, such as have a social life!
Bose, you are again trying to make the point that by flying for free it is an altruistic act. Does self protectionism come into it. Well,
! Of course it does. Only an utter imbecile would argue that it doesn't.
So Bill Gates gave away $26 billion. That's nice for him, he's only got another $24 billion in the bank. Firefox is free. Uh huh, but what about the data it can mine for the developers or the other applications that it opens up for them. Most of your examples aren't of altruism, but of loss leaders. A way of marketing or getting a name known for future benefit.
However, it is easy to be altruistic when you have more than you need. It is a totally different situation in this case. Most FI's are full time and therefore haven't got the time to have second jobs to pay the bills. So they do their best to try and stay in the flight training industry for as long as possible.
Most other clubs that are being used as examples aren't full time businesses, but evening or weekend hobbies. Nothing wrong with that at all, but very different propositions from a run for profit business open all day everyday.
If we were talking about a true non-profit making club, then that can be viewed in a different way, but there aren't many of them left in this industry are there?
It is possible to make a living from teaching, but it is incredibly difficult. I tried it or a couple of years. It wasn't fun and nothing saps your enthusiasm for a job more than the stress caused by knowing you won't b able to pay the rent/mortgage, petrol or even food.
When I was a new FI struggling to get by on £9 per flying hour it was incredibly hard. Fortunately for me, my fortunes changed for the better and I can now treat flying as a "hobby" I probably became a better FI once I was able to stop worrying about how much money was in the bank or if I could afford to fill my car up. I know I became far more relaxed as a person without all that stress.
The people I really think are dedicated to the industry are those who put up with sort of crap and carry on teaching for years. That is true dedication to aviation.