Just found this sight,
, can't believe what I'm reading ya'll have to put up with just to fly. I live in the country, northeast Louisiana, and we don't even have VHF radios in our crop duster planes. We operate off a small city airport and rarely does anyone even fly the pattern. First come, first land. We pay around $1.60 for fuel if we buy 1,000 gallons at a time. Jet-A has been running less than a dollar but we get it in a tanker (7,500 gallons) which brings the price down a little.
We do have AM/FM CD payers in our aircraft and my main gripe is we live so far out that we can't get any good rock and roll to listen to while spraying and fertilizing. We also have company radios that we can talk back and forth on but the only abbreviations we use are 10-4 (same as "roger").
In the winter I fly in the Gulf, out to the oil platforms and usually the only people we talk to is on our company flight following frequency and on the oil company radio. Again, not very formal.
As for annual inspections, we do them ourselves and the FAA only comes by every two or three years, drinks a little coffe or a coke, looks at the books, and heads down the road.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting ya'll down, I'm just amased at what ya'll have to live with on an every day basis.
Some times the pasture looks a little greener on the other side of the fence, and sometimes it looks pretty darn good right here at home.
Barryb