ITCZ too true....there seems to be this attitude of thats the way it is we can't change, we have no choice but to accept it. A friend of mine was involved in paradropping where he was getting paid, he negotiated with the operator for a better pay rate, eventually said operator then just 'employed' others who were willing to do it for free, on research he then finds that his old operator who used to pay no longer bothers because they had so many pilots willing to do it for nothing.
I hate to put all of them into the same basket but most of these people who do it for nothing are all the same, they are all products of the bigger flying schools, their parents have paid for all their flying training and they'll do whatever it takes to get their hours up, money doesn't matter because their parents still fund their lives!
If all paradrop pilots refused to fly unless they were paid say a set rate of $20 a drop, and no one did it for free the operators would be forced to either pay it, or close. But we all realise why current paradrop pilots wouldn't do this, is because they know there are heaps of guys out there that will...therein lies the problem!! Why should they NOT pay the pilot the instructor doesn't do it for free..and did the instructor spend the best part of $40K for the ability to do the job? I'm just using para drops as an example, instructing and all area's of GA are pretty much the same....why would someone be unwilling to operate a checkout in a city for $14,000 a year yet it's ok to get that flying a 206 in a outback area?
Aviation to me is an amazing industry, in one way it's an amazingly close nit community that sticks together and helps each other in times of crisis, the thread in Misc about the pilot who had the accident is a perfect example, the compassion for the loss of a fellow pilot in an accident is another.....then on the other side it's the most back stabbing industry you've ever seen....I hate to sound like Mr Union but unless pilots in general stand up a bit more for themself, and have the support of fellow pilots where are we heading? Paying operators to fly their a/c?