for me the thing that is putting me off flying is not the cost (i fly a single seater for about 15 quid per hour) it is the continual health and safety brigade, the jobsworths that make you wear a high vis jackets, people that sit in offices somewhere in Brussels that have never flown that think up new rules and practices just because it is their job to do so, not because of any safety reason or to make anything more efficient, and so it snowballs on...
A few weeks ago I was at my airfield where we flew during the week (unusal as we are a weekend gliding club) ATC were absolutely rediculous. During the weekend they are closed, we manage to cope sensibly all day long, liasing ourselves with other all other aircraft, all 100% safe.
During the week the ATC are open, in this week nothing could step on to the runway without their permission, one instructor walked on the 2 inches at the edge of the runway to keep his feet dry on a 5 meter walk to the launch point from where he parked the a/c and ATC radio'ed us to tell him off for walking on the runway, they were spying on him with bino's! During the whole week the only a/c movements were the gliding club, and the police helo that we manage to avoid every single weekend.
The best bit of RT we had from them was when they told a glider getting towed behind the tug to avoid a particular area for the next few minutes, the top reply from glider pilot was "incase you didnt notice i have to go where the tug takes me!"
Come 2.30pm ATC realised no a/c were coming to visit, so they cleared off home, as soon as they said that over the radio within 30 secs all ten of us ran on the runway and jumped up and down, 30mins before they told off someone for keeping his feet dry, it is mental.
I called up ATC that week to book out, got the 3rd degree of the ATCO, what i was doing, where i was going etc etc, he then said we are closing in 10 mins I could do what I want! Why give me all the grief in the first place!
It is this jobsworth attitude, obession with h&s, lack of common sense which really gets on my t
ts and makes me want to jack it all in. It seems all fun is taken away.
If one more person tells me to wear a high vis at 12 midday on a gin clear blue sky day I think I will stick my fist through his head, I have managed to live this long without getting squashed, think I can live another 2 mins walking from the cafe to the parked a/c 10 meters away.
In fact it is getting so bad I think that there must be people flying out of farm strips, with no insurance, no c of a, lapsed licences and no medicals because they are sick of it all and you can get away with it, how will you ever get caught?? To many rules and people dont want to obide by any of them.