Dear Creampuff,
Wonderful stuff, from an old sparring partner in our respective former lives.
Much as I hate to let the facts get in the way of a good story, anybody
who just might wonder about what I actually said, in context, (given my efforts over many years in support of the survival of GA, along with encouraging light aviation in all it’s myriad forms) should go to the Australian General Aviation Community Forum web site,
www.agacf.org .
If that doesn’t work, (there seems to have been a few server problems) go to
www.aimoo.com and find the agacf site.
What the whole thread was
ACTUALLY all about, what it developed into,starting from discussions about the NAS roadshow, was the survival of GA, and the cultural changes that have to occur, if GA is to survive and maybe even prosper.
The discussion grew out of a thread on the AOPA Forum about the cultural changed that are necessary in the aviation community, if we are to achieve the benefits that NAS can bring.
When I learnt to fly, there was no “sports aviation” as we have it today, no AUF like operations, but the atmosphere in which I learnt to fly was really pretty much the same as you find, across the board, in what is now Sport and Recreational flying, the AUF, GFA,HGFA,ASRA etc.
It was all good fun, we were all vaguely aware of “the Ministry”( UK) or “the Department” or “DCA”( in Australia) but they were entirely non threatening, non intrusive if not quite benign shadows in the background.
We need to re-create that sort of atmosphere, if we are going to attract enough people into GA flying for flying’s sake, those who will be PPLs, the backbone of GA across the country, not just those on the first stepping stones to a professional career.
That's not all we have to do, but it is, without doubt, a very major issue.
Or put it another way, if private/recreational GA can’t be competitive in the attracting of discretionary dollars (and the omnipresent CASA casts a deep shadow, not a great marketing tool) GA will continue to drift in the doldrums.
The original posts are all on AGACForum, as is a deal of other interesting stuff, go have a look.
Cheers,
Bill Hamilton.