Folks,
Once again, Sunfish puts the problem succinctly and accurately.
Despite what Lookleft thinks of me and my views on CASA, the "regulatory regime like no other" (as those of us who regularly deal with US, NZ,CA,UK well know) is the biggest by far inhibiting factor in the survival of GA.
And the gulf becomes wider all the time. Personally, I think traditional private GA and its support services has shrunk below what others have called a "critical mass". Availability of friendly airfields, maintenance services, fuel, training --- all getting harder to find --- and CASA makes it progressively harder.
You don't have to go far to see a huge contrast, just across the ditch, and I have never come across an aviator, in the last 40 years, who has compared Australia favorably to US or Canada. Australians flying for the first time in US really have their eyes opened to what GA can be really like -- affordable and fun!!
We really are the smart country, aren't we??
To GNP we should add a new index of GNS -- Gross National Stupidity.
Aviation is not the only sector that is being buried in an avalanche of "rules" --- but the "mystique of air safety" makes it the most vulnerable.
Hence the "power" of CASA, and the position, in which the whole industry (not just GA) finds itself.
Tootle pip!!