to clarify
Some great posts!!
Just to clarify a few things..
About the 10% i mentioned, I was not saying fees would add 10% to the ticket price, what I was reffering to was a possible 10% decrease in GA usage. This number I will reseach with some friends who still work at Nav Canada to see the actual if any drop in GA since user fees came in effect. The actual fee added to a passenger ticket is minimal.
US airlines compete with cars, Europe competes with trains.
Yes you are right, alot of airlines train their pilots in the states and would keep on doing so even if there was user fees. Yes you are also right, flying in Europe is expensive, if you think it's only because of fees think again. EVERYTHING is alot more expensive in Europe, my apt costs 2000 USD per month, a kid a McDonalds makes 12 USD per hour, dinner for 2 at an average restaurant cost 60 USD.. need I give more examples.. just the scale of the economy, this has everything to do with the fact that an hour of flight time is 2 to 2 1/2 times more expensive than in North America. You talk about the road to the right seat being different here than in North America, you are right, but there is something very wrong when guys are willing to fly for free to build hours on regional airlines. Maybe there are just too many pilots in the US. This was happening even pre sept 11th. Time to change the system? Would maybe stabilize the profession a little?
I am not questioning or asking about the traffic loads in Canada or the US, I know there is a ton of traffic in the US, more than anywhere else in the world. In Toronto, we used to average 100,000 movements per month, but I was not reffereing to that, the number I want to know is the decrease in percentage of GA flying since user fees were implemented.
About scud running pilots, WOW that is all I can say, maybe there should be inspectors to yank these licenses away.