bushy
Indeed I was, amongst other things in this industry, a fairly succesful and well respected one in new and used aircraft, if I may be so bold.
But the question is not as simple as you would think.
You are making the common mistake of comparing industrial grade product with domestic quality.
Military aircraft are designed and built for fairly obvious reasons to be extremely robust . Next time you get to walk past an F111, particularly the F111, or F18 give the fuse or one of the flying surfaces a sharp rap with your knuckles then expect to spend the rest of the day wishing you hadn't. Notwithstanding that their complexity and the need for reliability "on task" requires them to be and also makes them very maintenance intensive.
Airline equipment,
industrial grade, is designed to operate 24/7 with long periods between inspections at a maintenance base, surrounded on the ground by all manner of other equipment and personnel with a high risk of "inapropriate" contact and in all manner of hostile weather conditions. Their complexity and the need for reliability "on task" requires them to be and also makes them very maintenance intensive on a maintenance hr/flight hr basis. The have however enough passenger seats available to produce a maintenance seat cost/hr heaps lower than your GA machine.
If there are any aircraft flying around that were built in the 40's, you would have a hard time getting me to allow my family to fly in one, other than as a fellow enthusiast vintage aircraft buff.
The public certainly have no place in this type other than as "experience" type charter and should be "informed" of the lower safety protection available.
RPT in anything registered in Oz before 1 June 1963? get out of here.
I recommend for your study and information if you are to become a professional pilot the complete FAA FAR 23 and FAR 25 both the performance and design sections.
They set the basic rules, the manufacturer builds his reputation on the robustness and "in service reliability" of the equipment.
If it is always breaking and in the shop it is not making money and the airlines are very quick to drop them, their very economic survival depends on it.
You may have a view about aeroplane salesmen, perhaps you have been mixing with the wrong ones, but I can assure you the real ones are highly skilled and an integral part of the manufacturers process in providing the most important feedback and equally important education to the "end user".
It is highly unlikely that you have operated new equipment or had any direct contact with the "factory salesman", given the age of the GA equipment still staggering around. If you had then you may hold a different view.
We have a serious problem with a shortage of LAME's, and an oversupply of desparate young pilots
Think about what you just said.
Two relatively unrelated issues.
LAMES;
There is a dearth in ALL parts of the economy of young people wanting to start a career in skilled trades, as their perception is that "trade" is not nearly as cool as business, hospitality or whatever. Anyone with even the most glancing contact will know otherwise.
Problem is the clapped out geriatric fleet and low wages resulting therefrom do not provide the
financial OR professional incentive for most LAME to either stick around or promote apprentices when he can go to an operator of modern, equipment get paid whats his hard earnt skills deserve and live in a hospitable environment..\
Think about it his way, you are complaining that there aren't enough LAMEs. in the bush, unless you have decided that is where your lifetime career is going to be, then why would you be surprised that they have similar ambitions to move and progress in their professional careers.
It's OK for you to go to airlines for the professioanl development and satisfaction you seek, but not them.???
If there were modern and equally sophisticated aircraft operating out there, and the modern GA stuff is, then I promise you there would not be shortage of LAMEs out there either.
Working long and hard in a difficult environment to keep the same an old piece of sh!t you've had for ever flying, and having, continuously, to make job and life threatening "judgements" about how long this "bit" will last, either because there 'aint no more left in the world or the cost or remanufacture is prohibitive is not IMHO professionally fulfilling.
"an oversupply of desparate (sic) young pilots"
Has always been so regardless of the age of the equipment.
Forgive me, but I wasn't aware that the GA industry was stuctured around the need to employ "desperate" young pilots, I always thought it was because there was a need for aviation services that employed the number of pilots necessary.
There have been too many aviation endeavours that have been started on your premise to number here, rather than the other.
Those that have taken the latter path are the ones that are mostly still around.
In summary there are many more and much deeper historical reasons that would take more time than I have available for the moment to describe.