The FAA, similarly, has effectively killed air transport save for the wealthy or the airlines. I look out my window everyday and it pains me greatly to see the skies empty. It’s hardly a hobby even these days to fly unless it’s in furtherance of a ticket to fill a job.
I live in a somewhat rural and generally peaceful area. In one direction, I am over twenty miles from one tiny airport that has only private pilots (mostly single engines). In a different direction I am about thirty miles from a bigger airport that has commercial flights as well as a very robust private flight club.
On most days that are at least semi-nice, the sky is filled with a near constant hum of these planes.
I’m all for more GA (and am on the path to my own pilot’s license), but I’m not sure I agree that empty skies are a bad thing.
I think he’s talking about general aviation which is … not in great shape, though the rumors of its demise are still overstated a bit.
The main thing that made general aviation a far less accessible proposition were the lawsuits against the manufacturers in the 70s and 80s, the crushing verdicts and the over engineered basic planes based on suits that had been lost. That’s why a new Cessna 172 is three-quarters of a million dollars.
If I have a particular complaint with the FAA, I don’t think the requirements for a third-class medical are terribly compatible with the modern view of good mental health and treatment. But I understand the box they’re in on this, and don’t have any bright ideas.
>The main thing that made general aviation a far less accessible proposition
Meh, where I live, what made general aviation inaccessible is the fact that boomers and geriatrics have filled basically every airfield parking lot with planes they are keeping indefinitely in storage.
The only ones using the planes are the guys able to pay for the private corp owned hangers
>That’s why a new Cessna 172 is three-quarters of a million dollars.
There are people bypassing this for "recreational" level flying by simply using the experimental labeling on planes
