Precisely
Bloggs:
Class C airspace isn't destroying GA,
http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/413966-anyone-visited-mildura-lately.html
Sorry, I'm not good at manipulating links (right-click to open), but your comment was
'this is.'
Agree entirely. And I wonder who championed 'user pays' and the attendant disaster that resulted in 'airport owners' racking up fees and charges to the extent that GA is not viable at many locations. Jeez, didn't 'user-pays' sound so logical to the unwashed? 'User-pays' was not thought through in reference to GA and the industry in general.
The demise of YHOX, the closure of the crossing runway at YSBK, and many other examples, from where I sit, can be put down to 'business models' that have little regard for GA viability. 'User pays,' IMHO, championed (I believe) by the 'free in G brigade,' has brought GA to its knees.
Once we had a system that tacitly acknowledged that GA benefited everyone in the population. Whether it was the newsagent in Tennant, the pharmacist in St George, the RFDS, or the local flying school that contributed to the supply of future commercial pilots. Consequently, we federally funded aviation, particularly regional and GA, because the benefits extended to the entire population, albeit indirectly in some areas.
'User-pays' canned all that. A vital sector of the industry, that was funded out of government revenue, for the benefit of all Australians (and I mean all), atrophied because of the 'user-pays model.'
Take a bow, those supporters of 'user-pays' and 'free in G.' From my perspective, you undermined a viable industry.
Only my take, but Class E over D is a molehill in comparison to the irreversible damage that's been done by blinkered zealots.