Is it really so bad?
Join Date: Jun 2003
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For inspiration in flying go to a flying club; this is just a soapbox, compare it with Hyde Pk!
Even more fun
I forgot to say
Buy a Turb and fly the pants off it !!!
Go on to you tube to see what fun they are having at Headcorn with the "ski's" and that has been going on since the 60's (Redhill before Headcorn)
So you see, its out there if you know where to look.
Buy a Turb and fly the pants off it !!!
Go on to you tube to see what fun they are having at Headcorn with the "ski's" and that has been going on since the 60's (Redhill before Headcorn)
So you see, its out there if you know where to look.
CD,
your post is pretty much what I've been thinking for a long time, not only here but just about everywhere these days. I have to admit that I may well be one of the more pessimistic folks around here, based on what I see happening in Europe since I came back to real life aviation last year.
Nevertheless, I took the plunge and bought an airplane of all things, because I could not leave the victory to the bureaucrats to scare me out of my passion for flying. I now spent a whole load of money getting an engine overhaul done, so I do intend to fly the next 2000 hours with this my machine.
I think a lot of us here have genuine concerns about our very future in aviation. We are under the most severe threat ever since aviation was born a bit more than 100 years ago. Sometimes I sit back and think to myself that with the attitude displayed by the regulators and governments (particularly in Europe I might add hastily) a lot of things would never have happened.
- The Wright Brothers would never have left the ground.
- Bleriot might have swam across the Channel but not flown.
- Lindbergh would have been stopped before he ever tried to do his historic flight, his aircraft would not ever withstand current demands on all sorts of regulations.
- The Berlin Airlift would not be possible, as Berlin has closed down two of the historic fields already and will close a third.
By all means finish your PPL and follow your dream. The sooner the better. I reckon, all the flights we have done in the past are all that nobody can take away from us in the future. Everything else, and it is you bet as good as anyone's.
your post is pretty much what I've been thinking for a long time, not only here but just about everywhere these days. I have to admit that I may well be one of the more pessimistic folks around here, based on what I see happening in Europe since I came back to real life aviation last year.
Nevertheless, I took the plunge and bought an airplane of all things, because I could not leave the victory to the bureaucrats to scare me out of my passion for flying. I now spent a whole load of money getting an engine overhaul done, so I do intend to fly the next 2000 hours with this my machine.
I think a lot of us here have genuine concerns about our very future in aviation. We are under the most severe threat ever since aviation was born a bit more than 100 years ago. Sometimes I sit back and think to myself that with the attitude displayed by the regulators and governments (particularly in Europe I might add hastily) a lot of things would never have happened.
- The Wright Brothers would never have left the ground.
- Bleriot might have swam across the Channel but not flown.
- Lindbergh would have been stopped before he ever tried to do his historic flight, his aircraft would not ever withstand current demands on all sorts of regulations.
- The Berlin Airlift would not be possible, as Berlin has closed down two of the historic fields already and will close a third.
By all means finish your PPL and follow your dream. The sooner the better. I reckon, all the flights we have done in the past are all that nobody can take away from us in the future. Everything else, and it is you bet as good as anyone's.
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AN2
The real demise started with 9/11 the Terrorists won big time with the USA claiming that the Terrorists would never win against the freedoms we fought so hard to achieve.
Look at the ridiculous state we are now in? The massive security industry that has evolved around 9/11?
On this side of the pond we then had the green attack again government seeing a mass of new departments, regulatory authorities all based around the Green issue and all to be paid for.
The cancer of Europe are artificially created jobs, goverment jobs, non productive jobs but the governments can claim that they have created employment.
Who pays??? but what a sham! Just got off the London tubes, thousands massing into underground trains dragging cases behind them. NO security.
A Terrorist? why bother with an aeroplane when you have such easy targets in other areas but aviation gets attacked from all fronts.
Security, fuel taxes, regulations you name it? aviation is the target because its an easy target and ripe pickings for cash strapped government.
An easy target for all these masses of governemnt departments in false jobs who have only one aim to create work to justify those jobs.
Who pays? Who looses all the freedoms?
Pace
The real demise started with 9/11 the Terrorists won big time with the USA claiming that the Terrorists would never win against the freedoms we fought so hard to achieve.
Look at the ridiculous state we are now in? The massive security industry that has evolved around 9/11?
On this side of the pond we then had the green attack again government seeing a mass of new departments, regulatory authorities all based around the Green issue and all to be paid for.
The cancer of Europe are artificially created jobs, goverment jobs, non productive jobs but the governments can claim that they have created employment.
Who pays??? but what a sham! Just got off the London tubes, thousands massing into underground trains dragging cases behind them. NO security.
A Terrorist? why bother with an aeroplane when you have such easy targets in other areas but aviation gets attacked from all fronts.
Security, fuel taxes, regulations you name it? aviation is the target because its an easy target and ripe pickings for cash strapped government.
An easy target for all these masses of governemnt departments in false jobs who have only one aim to create work to justify those jobs.
Who pays? Who looses all the freedoms?
Pace
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Aviation will always be a magnet for regulation.
All decisionmakers understand the risks in ground transport, and the costs of a lost life have all been worked out, etc. Nobody really bothers about train crashes, etc.
Aviation is different. Deep down, everybody getting into a passenger jet has their fingers mentally (and many have them literally) crossed behind their backs, hoping the thing doesn't crash. (I certainly have, knowing the LHS will be a good pilot but the RHS is often just a "kid" wearing a fancy outfit; this is OK because a 737 can be easily flown single pilot... so long as the automation all works, which 99.999% of the time it does).
And almost nobody outside specialised aviation engineering areas understands how/why planes crash.
With GA, you don't have the passenger fear (in the sense that nobody has to fly GA as a passenger) but the public has the deep fear of a plane crashing onto somebody. This is extremely rare but the fear/emotion are there.
So aviation will always be a ripe area for regulation which in the GA case will be totally disproportionate to the public risk.
The lack of understanding by outsiders makes it a ripe area for empire building, too.
That was all going along fine before 9/11.
Now it's even better
Every good for nothing twit who can bluff and wear a yellow jacket can walk into some good for nothing "security" job and order people about.
Regulation is not going to go away. The trick is to find ways to live with it. It's not hard.
I think EASA, when it has all shaken out say 5 years from now, and all the under the table bent deals have been done, will be a net benefit to VFR GA, which is the bulk of it.
And it's never been easy or cheap. Certainly getting an IR used to be easier, say 30 years ago, but overall little has changed. The cost of a PPL has probably remained constant as a % of average salary, over 40 years; I recall somebody from univ. (1975) who had a PPL back then.
All decisionmakers understand the risks in ground transport, and the costs of a lost life have all been worked out, etc. Nobody really bothers about train crashes, etc.
Aviation is different. Deep down, everybody getting into a passenger jet has their fingers mentally (and many have them literally) crossed behind their backs, hoping the thing doesn't crash. (I certainly have, knowing the LHS will be a good pilot but the RHS is often just a "kid" wearing a fancy outfit; this is OK because a 737 can be easily flown single pilot... so long as the automation all works, which 99.999% of the time it does).
And almost nobody outside specialised aviation engineering areas understands how/why planes crash.
With GA, you don't have the passenger fear (in the sense that nobody has to fly GA as a passenger) but the public has the deep fear of a plane crashing onto somebody. This is extremely rare but the fear/emotion are there.
So aviation will always be a ripe area for regulation which in the GA case will be totally disproportionate to the public risk.
The lack of understanding by outsiders makes it a ripe area for empire building, too.
That was all going along fine before 9/11.
Now it's even better
Every good for nothing twit who can bluff and wear a yellow jacket can walk into some good for nothing "security" job and order people about.Regulation is not going to go away. The trick is to find ways to live with it. It's not hard.
I think EASA, when it has all shaken out say 5 years from now, and all the under the table bent deals have been done, will be a net benefit to VFR GA, which is the bulk of it.
And it's never been easy or cheap. Certainly getting an IR used to be easier, say 30 years ago, but overall little has changed. The cost of a PPL has probably remained constant as a % of average salary, over 40 years; I recall somebody from univ. (1975) who had a PPL back then.
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The last year has been a struggle with bureaucracy, and finally my much loved aeroplane has a new set of paperwork and can be legally flown. During that year the hangarage charges continued, maintenance had to be done, and I am just about to renew the insurance, all in all an expensive business.
Whilst so grounded I visited the coast, and went hill walking, and took friends to see local sites like castles, lakes, etc.
Frequently in those same spots the distant sound of a Rotax motor could be heard high overhead, and eventually curiosity made me follow a tiny microlight aircraft to its base in rural Cardiganshire.
Some people still live the flying dream...an older couple with a Thruster microlight, based on a small field with a canvas hangar, close to an old mansion, and a little hamlet of aviation friendly people. No rent, no regulators, no hassle, they just go flying wherever and whenever they wish.
The dream of flying is not yet dead.
Whilst so grounded I visited the coast, and went hill walking, and took friends to see local sites like castles, lakes, etc.
Frequently in those same spots the distant sound of a Rotax motor could be heard high overhead, and eventually curiosity made me follow a tiny microlight aircraft to its base in rural Cardiganshire.
Some people still live the flying dream...an older couple with a Thruster microlight, based on a small field with a canvas hangar, close to an old mansion, and a little hamlet of aviation friendly people. No rent, no regulators, no hassle, they just go flying wherever and whenever they wish.
The dream of flying is not yet dead.
Pace,
For commercial aviation absolutely. In GA, it depends. Small airfields are still pretty much the same, but when it comes to having your Mooney parked on an international airport, yes, the security is there.
I think much of the security hype has to do with two things. 1) the US's drive to overcorrect the lax and unprofessional security which made 9-11 possible (I don't think any carpet cutter knife would have made it past security in Europe) and 2) once that was initiated, the industry realized how much money was in it.
Concur. This combined with a general attitude of envy against anyone who dares to "have something more" even if the private plane cost a fraction of that guy's BMW or even Toyota Prius ecomobile. And it's frightening to see how many of those green/socialist folks are actually working in the industry!
Re targets: Aviation has from the beginning been a very popular terrorist target and undoubtedly remains so. It is easier to blow up a train, but if you analyze who they want to hit, aviation is still the primary target. HOWEVER, that has nothing to do with the overkill post 9-11, the threat situation has not changed at all. There were nutters before and now. Yet, what is really depressing to see is that a buch of students with carpet knives managed to get the largest military power in the world on the run and give up it's principles instead of fixing what needed fixing and getting on with the job.
Best regards
AN2
The real demise started with 9/11 the Terrorists won big time with the USA claiming that the Terrorists would never win against the freedoms
we fought so hard to achieve.
Look at the ridiculous state we are now in? The massive security industry that has evolved around 9/11?
we fought so hard to achieve.
Look at the ridiculous state we are now in? The massive security industry that has evolved around 9/11?
I think much of the security hype has to do with two things. 1) the US's drive to overcorrect the lax and unprofessional security which made 9-11 possible (I don't think any carpet cutter knife would have made it past security in Europe) and 2) once that was initiated, the industry realized how much money was in it.
On this side of the pond we then had the green attack again government seeing a mass of new departments, regulatory authorities all based around the Green issue and all to be paid for.
The cancer of Europe are artificially created jobs, goverment jobs, non productive jobs but the governments can claim that they have created employment.
The cancer of Europe are artificially created jobs, goverment jobs, non productive jobs but the governments can claim that they have created employment.
Re targets: Aviation has from the beginning been a very popular terrorist target and undoubtedly remains so. It is easier to blow up a train, but if you analyze who they want to hit, aviation is still the primary target. HOWEVER, that has nothing to do with the overkill post 9-11, the threat situation has not changed at all. There were nutters before and now. Yet, what is really depressing to see is that a buch of students with carpet knives managed to get the largest military power in the world on the run and give up it's principles instead of fixing what needed fixing and getting on with the job.
Best regards
AN2
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Re: Is it really so bad?
I've been lucky enough to learn and fly around the Welsh borders, avoiding a lot of controlled airspace.
However, for my QXC I went from home at Shobdon to Leicester and Wellesbourne, talking to Birmingham, East Midlands and Coventry, and found them all to be incredibly helpful and some of the nicest ATC i've ever come across.
Also, on my first solo landaway at Wolverhampton, I managed to turn around on the deadside and report downwind, and despite my nerves and general stupidity, the controller was very understanding and quickly got me sorted out, even after a go-around. On top of all this, I even got a well done from the Police helicopter that I had been holding up with all my arseing about.
I've only ever come across one unpleasant controller in my 5 years of flying. Pretty much everyone I've come across has been professional and courteous, no matter how big the operation they're involved in. Maybe I've got lucky, but these experiences have let me enjoy my flying all the more, perhaps even when I should have been panicking a little
.
Have fun!
However, for my QXC I went from home at Shobdon to Leicester and Wellesbourne, talking to Birmingham, East Midlands and Coventry, and found them all to be incredibly helpful and some of the nicest ATC i've ever come across.
Also, on my first solo landaway at Wolverhampton, I managed to turn around on the deadside and report downwind, and despite my nerves and general stupidity, the controller was very understanding and quickly got me sorted out, even after a go-around. On top of all this, I even got a well done from the Police helicopter that I had been holding up with all my arseing about.
I've only ever come across one unpleasant controller in my 5 years of flying. Pretty much everyone I've come across has been professional and courteous, no matter how big the operation they're involved in. Maybe I've got lucky, but these experiences have let me enjoy my flying all the more, perhaps even when I should have been panicking a little
.Have fun!
