Another thought on the decline of GA.

[John Baker]

While flipping through this months AOPA monthly magazine, I think it was this months, the one featuring that Canadian float plane, the famous dehavilland beaver, I noticed several things that suggested the fun has gone from GA aviation.

One article cited how pilots worry way too much about every little detail of their flights. Another implied the regulatory labyrinth that keeps growing in size every year.

Then of course, is the very real possibility of finding yourself caught up in some very devastating litigation.

Anyway, my thoughts about a declining GA had focused mainly on the cost of learning to fly, and the regulations, I had never considered the fun factor. Thinking about it though, as a PPSL, in all seriousness, chasing expensive hamburgers from point A to B, really isn't all that much fun, although it is something that most people don't get to do.

I think, if I was involved in aerobatics, that probably would be fun, but at my age, no, I'm not going to do that. Besides, I can't afford it anyway.

My first few years of flying was a lot of fun, simply because I was learning something new and different, but now that I have attained a few skills, such as taking off, aiming and holding it in the right direction, and landing, it really isn't all that much fun anymore. It is something to do though.

Is it really worth the expense and financial risk just to have something different to do? Now I'm wondering.

Considering everything, could "fun" or the lack of it, be the real reason GA is in decline?

John

 

[Tom-D]

While flipping through this months AOPA monthly magazine, I think it was this months, the one featuring that Canadian float plane, the famous dehavilland beaver, I noticed several things that suggested the fun has gone from GA aviation.

One article cited how pilots worry way too much about every little detail of their flights. Another implied the regulatory labyrinth that keeps growing in size every year.

Then of course, is the very real possibility of finding yourself caught up in some very devastating litigation.

Anyway, my thoughts about a declining GA had focused mainly on the cost of learning to fly, and the regulations, I had never considered the fun factor. Thinking about it though, as a PPSL, in all seriousness, chasing expensive hamburgers from point A to B, really isn't all that much fun, although it is something that most people don't get to do.

I think, if I was involved in aerobatics, that probably would be fun, but at my age, no, I'm not going to do that. Besides, I can't afford it anyway.

My first few years of flying was a lot of fun, simply because I was learning something new and different, but now that I have attained a few skills, such as taking off, aiming and holding it in the right direction, and landing, it really isn't all that much fun anymore. It is something to do though.

Is it really worth the expense and financial risk just to have something different to do? Now I'm wondering.

Considering everything, could "fun" or the lack of it, be the real reason GA is in decline?

John

That's the big part of it for me, I can no longer rationalize chasing parts by air any more even though it's quicker the hassles of the class "B" airspace around SEA just isn't worth it.

I changed my flying habits a few years ago to flying for fun. by I only got 12 hours last year, and that was to stay current.

 

[Mike5250]

The cost is the #1 reason. Fuel + maintenance cost will likely never go down. Flying clubs make using a plane for traveling much easier.

Since I moved and don't have access to my non profit flying club and online scheduling with no overnight fees I find it to be more of a hobby than useful transportation.

 

[wabower]

When it's no longer fun, I'll quit doing it and would advise anyone else to do the same. Bottom line is that nobody else really gives a rats whether you fly or not, so there's no reason to do something you don't enjoy, especially when the sand is running out of the jar.

Flying around looking out the window was fun when I first started, and is still fun now. The intervening years have been filled with many other flying experiences, and I'm now flying the same kind of airplane to do the same things I did in 1957. If my luck holds, that may continue for a while.

 

[tonycondon]

i have a whole bunch of fun every time i fly. i insist on it

 

[AggieMike88]

. Flying around looking out the window was fun when I first started, and is still fun now. The intervening years have been filled with many other flying experiences, and I'm now flying the same kind of airplane to do the same things I did in 1957. If my luck holds, that may continue for a while.

I remember the story you shared once about a chance meeting at your hanger with a friend of a friend and his wife. Their prior experience with GA had all been in cabin class aircraft and they were on a schedule to be somewhere, so it was all high altitude and ground speed.

You talked them into going to Cedar Mills with you for brunch and reported they had the time of their lives flying low and slow and looking at the cows and haystacks and the two Tioga radio towers.

The fun is still there... You just gotta have you mind right, cap'n.

 

[denverpilot]

i have a whole bunch of fun every time i fly. i insist on it

Rephrased: "I don't always fly, but when I do, I insist on having fun."

Signed, the Most Interesting Pilot in the World.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Every now and then, I will by flying along, fat, dumb, blase', and oblivious, when suddenly, for NO apparent reason, I am jolted by these thoughts:

1. I am several thousand feet in the air.
2. I am seated on a steel seat bolted to a glorified beer can, and I know EXACTLY how thick that metal really is.
3. I am responsible for getting this contraption and my family safely back to the ground, whether the engine continues to run, or not.
4. This thing was built by high school drop outs -- when I was a sophomore in high school.

Right about this point, I start to laugh, often out loud. Sometimes I even giggle. The whole thing is so...UNLIKELY, that a shmoe like me could actually be DOING all these things.

THAT is when I remember to have fun.

 

[John Baker]

I do have fun when there is something going on, like a gusting crosswind, or some good turbulence. I enjoy planning a flight, but I also enjoy flying to some destination on an impulse, and planning it en rout. Those things are few, and far apart.

I hate the idea of spending all this time, money, and effort to achieve my private, and then admitting to myself that yes, there is some fun now and then, but was that fun worth it all?

The only real way I can justify it all to myself is the fact that I did it. I stuck with it and got it done. I am a pilot.

OK, all that is well and good, for the few of us that call ourselves active pilots, but the issue that I was trying to bring up is the possibility most people do not think there is enough fun in GA to justify the expense, risk, as in financial, and of course all of the training that includes the mind numbing FARs.

Is General Aviation enough fun to attract new members? Or another way, is there enough fun to justify the expense and effort?

John

 

[Jay Honeck]

Defining "fun" is a tough nut to crack. Some people think base-jumping is "fun", while I think they are bonkers.

The perception of "fun" has changed quite a bit in our lifetimes. My dad's generation thought "fun" was eating fatty foods, smoking cigarettes, drinking martinis, and playing cards with friends. I do NONE of those things (well, except for the gin, on occasion) because I find most of it boring, unhealthy, or both.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, their generation did insanely dangerous things for "fun". Stock car racing -- REAL stock cars -- on the BEACH, of all places? No seat belts, just go for it? Crazy.

Shooting guns IN TOWN was not only fun, it was normal. Jumping off cliffs into water-filled quarries was fun (it's illegal now). And have you seen the power take-offs for their large woodworking tools? They thought it was "fun" working with drive belts ripping past their heads.

Now, my kids barely move -- but they are having "fun". Right now, by all outward appearances I am a zombie, staring at this screen, moving my fingers, having "fun".

None of this "fun" stuff even existed 30 years ago.

My "fun" may be your terror. I love to fly -- I have even sold my blood to pay for it (although not for a long time) -- but I know people who would rather die than fly.

So, your question is a good one, but unanswerable.

 

[Morne]

Fun for its own sake is still an option. The LSA addresses that directly. Buy an old Eurcoupe and it's still pretty inexpensive, even.

Fun is what you make of it. Fly over some beautiful scenery. Go to a resort island for a day. Head for an airport with a museum.

I got my license only recently. It was and remains fun to fly. I wouldn't have bothered to learn without a business case for flying, but that doesn't mean that flying is "all work and no play".

 

[ClimbnSink]

I agree. I think the wrong stuff is pushed along as 'fun.' Gliders are fun, C-172s a whole bunch less so. Looking out the window fun, flying by dial not fun at least to me. I didn't start flying to drive windowless submarines...
The people that are inclined to write articles or come up with latest recruit a pilot program are the same people that either have a valid GA travel reason and resources or geek out on sub driving.
We say we are selling fun, then offer a boring hassle filled experience that ain't cheap.

 

[yakdriver]

When I got my PPL I got bored with it real fast because I could only afford to fly an hour or so at a time. That 1/2 hour radius got real boring real quick. I flew for about a year and a half and then quit for several months. A local flight school got a Great Lakes and I got my tailwheel training in it and then aerobatics in it and Decathalons. Now I could do something really fun in my hour and improve my skills on every flight. I have been flying for 35 years and over 3000hrs and have owned and flown and built several warbirds, aerobatic and sport airplanes. I never get bored with flying open cockpit or putting around low and slow in the Cub. To me a regular GA airplane is like a car, just a tool for getting from point A to point B and fairly boring to fly. Don

 

[L.Adamson]

I didn't start flying to drive windowless submarines...

That's great!!! :wink2:

I don't get much pleasure looking at shades of gray matter either. I go for the panaramic vistas of the mountain west, and deserts of the south west. From Montana to Arizona. Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Yellowstone, etc. That's the soul reason I prefer small airplanes.

L.Adamson

 

[steingar]

Geeze you guys whine. Last Saturday I decided to take the Mrs. flying. There was turbulence where I wanted to go, so I flew us over to a little local airport. The closest thing to regulation I had to put up with was asking my tower for permission to taxi and depart. Had a great day, a nice lunch (eggs over easy, first time ever!) and a tour of their little air museum. The wife had a really good time, and we had a nice memorable day. Sure it was a bit pricey with the avgas, but so what? The best part for Mrs. Steingar was seeing the patchwork of brown and green fields below.

You want expensive? Try adding up what all those smoker turds spend on their cancer sticks, which are only mildly addictive compared to airplanes.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

While flipping through this months AOPA monthly magazine, I think it was this months, the one featuring that Canadian float plane, the famous dehavilland beaver, I noticed several things that suggested the fun has gone from GA aviation.

One article cited how pilots worry way too much about every little detail of their flights. Another implied the regulatory labyrinth that keeps growing in size every year.

Then of course, is the very real possibility of finding yourself caught up in some very devastating litigation.

Anyway, my thoughts about a declining GA had focused mainly on the cost of learning to fly, and the regulations, I had never considered the fun factor. Thinking about it though, as a PPSL, in all seriousness, chasing expensive hamburgers from point A to B, really isn't all that much fun, although it is something that most people don't get to do.

I think, if I was involved in aerobatics, that probably would be fun, but at my age, no, I'm not going to do that. Besides, I can't afford it anyway.

My first few years of flying was a lot of fun, simply because I was learning something new and different, but now that I have attained a few skills, such as taking off, aiming and holding it in the right direction, and landing, it really isn't all that much fun anymore. It is something to do though.

Is it really worth the expense and financial risk just to have something different to do? Now I'm wondering.

Considering everything, could "fun" or the lack of it, be the real reason GA is in decline?

John

KMYF to CL35
Segment length: 37 nm
Trip length: 37 nm
Initial true bearing: 40°
Initial magnetic bearing: 28°

http://www.skysailing.com/

 

[Art VanDelay]

I think that being able to fly across the country for $99 (insert whatever ridiculous fare) on discount airlines does not help much either. Unless you have a big family or live far from a big airport it can be a real hard sell to not just sit back in coach sipping a beer and watching directv while someone else does all the work.

 

[tonycondon]

i think a big part of the problem is people get hooked on the idea that GA is reliable and cheap transportation. hell no! it is entertainment which can sometimes be used to get somewhere maybe faster but probably not cheaper than the airlines.

people spend just as much money on motorcylces, snowmobiles, and boats but they aren't trying to justify practical purposes for those toys so they don't feel bad about it.

 

[COFlyBoy]

I have friends who race cars in one of the cheapest racing leagues in existance, and they still spend annually about the same amount as I do on flying. And, they end up right back where they started, with not much interesting stuff to see enroute.

Every time I fly I am still struck by the overwhelming feeling of freedom when I start climbing out. Its the same feeling I got on my first solo and looked over at the empty right seat. That is worth a huge amount to me. I feel that way even though I've been based within 30nm of KDEN for the entire time I've be a pilot.

 

[John Baker]

KMYF to CL35
Segment length: 37 nm
Trip length: 37 nm
Initial true bearing: 40°
Initial magnetic bearing: 28°

http://www.skysailing.com/

That is a great idea. I've thought about doing that a whole lot. I've flown over Warner Springs a bunch of times. I will definitely check that out. I don't know if they will let me land my Warrior out there, but even so, it's a short drive in my Jeep. Thanks.

John

 

[tonycondon]

I can't think of a much better place to learn soaring. Garrett is consistently ranked in the top 3 in the Open Class and has competed several times in the World Championships. I don't even think he is 30 yet. I have some catching up to do...

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

That is a great idea. I've thought about doing that a whole lot. I've flown over Warner Springs a bunch of times. I will definitely check that out. I don't know if they will let me land my Warrior out there, but even so, it's a short drive in my Jeep. Thanks.

John

Give them a call. I'd be freaking amazed if they wouldn't let you fly in for a glider ride.

Just watch out for the gliders - they can be hard to spot and may not be flying a "standard" pattern.

 

[spinfire]

You want expensive? Try adding up what all those smoker turds spend on their cancer sticks, which are only mildly addictive compared to airplanes.

Hmm, is that really true?

The median price of cigarettes in the US across all states seems to be somewhere around $6.50/pack. Assuming a hypothetical "pack a day" smoker that is around $200/month spend on cigarettes. Only two hours at a relatively cheap $100/hour wet rental rate. Of course that ignores the health impact costs of smoking, but...

I know I spend a helluva lot more than that on airplanes. That would be only 24 hours/year, which I believe is less than half of what the median GA pilot flies per year. That said, airplanes are a lot more fun, healthier, and definitely cooler than smoking B)

 

[steingar]

Hmm, is that really true?

The median price of cigarettes in the US across all states seems to be somewhere around $6.50/pack. Assuming a hypothetical "pack a day" smoker that is around $200/month spend on cigarettes. Only two hours at a relatively cheap $100/hour wet rental rate. Of course that ignores the health impact costs of smoking, but...

I know I spend a helluva lot more than that on airplanes. That would be only 24 hours/year, which I believe is less than half of what the median GA pilot flies per year. That said, airplanes are a lot more fun, healthier, and definitely cooler than smoking B)

Factor in the loss of work due to smoking breaks and illness, the health care costs, and of course the necessary fumigation, and airplanes are less expensive.

There are lots of expensive avocations. Racing anything beyond bicycles gets expensive (and racing bicycles can be as well), boats, horses, vacation homes, international travel and all sorts of other things cost big money. Doesn't necessarily deter folks, though I bet the higher the cost the more exclusive the community.

 

[Anthony]

I don't find flying as much fun as I used to, but I still enjoy it, especially when flying with others. My goal is to use it as transportation as often as possible, but find its really not that practical as most of my travel is for work and VERY long distances.

If I don't find ways to use it more, I am going to sell my plane. Droning along for hours just doesn't seem as much fun anymore, but I still enjoy it enough to do it.

 

[John Baker]

I don't find flying as much fun as I used to, but I still enjoy it, especially when flying with others.

If I don't find ways to use it more, I am going to sell my plane. Droning along for hours just doesn't seem as much fun anymore, but I still enjoy it enough to do it.

Exactly where I'm at.

John

 

[John Baker]

Give them a call. I'd be freaking amazed if they wouldn't let you fly in for a glider ride.

Just watch out for the gliders - they can be hard to spot and may not be flying a "standard" pattern.

I called them, the answer is yes, I can land there. It is two miles away from the Warner Springs resort.

They have had Lear jets land there, the runway is in good shape. They want a call ten miles out, they'll give the runway information.

The nearest restaurant is at the resort, but will be closing down for a few months, new owners. They have transportation to the resort during business hours.

They suggest making an appointment before flying out, but it is not a strict rule. Of course there are no guarantees you'll get to ride a glider if you just pop in on them.

I can't wait to do this. My plane is being painted as in cleaning it up and getting rid of all the paint squawks, so it's gonna be a few weeks.

John

 

[dell30rb]

the other day I grabbed a 152 and logged .7 hours and about 10 touch and go's. slow flew the entire length of the runway a foot off the ground at minimum speed with the stall horn squeaking. did a few short field landings and takeoffs...

nice change of pace

The flights I enjoy most are instrument training, and taking friends for a ride. Easiest way to get them to fly with you is to have a destination. I'm renting a cabin in the mountains to flyfish with some friends in a few weeks. great location, sleeps 10 and its gonna be about $35 a person for the weekend. I've got the airplane seats filled up for the 1.5 hour flight... the guys that can't fit in the plane are gonna have to make a 5 hour drive!

 

[tonycondon]

I called them, the answer is yes, I can land there. It is two miles away from the Warner Springs resort.

They have had Lear jets land there, the runway is in good shape. They want a call ten miles out, they'll give the runway information.

The nearest restaurant is at the resort, but will be closing down for a few months, new owners. They have transportation to the resort during business hours.

They suggest making an appointment before flying out, but it is not a strict rule. Of course there are no guarantees you'll get to ride a glider if you just pop in on them.

I can't wait to do this. My plane is being painted as in cleaning it up and getting rid of all the paint squawks, so it's gonna be a few weeks.

John

great, once you get addicted after your first flight make sure to join the SSA www.ssa.org and you should fly up to Reno in February for the convention. Pete and I and all of your new best friends will be there

 

[wabower]

Thinking about that trip reminded me of the the things that people see (or see differently) from the air vs from the ground, and the "wow" factor that often results.

On the day of this particular flight, many of the meadows were filled with big round bales of hay that were drying in the field and had not been moved to a central location. The folks who were with me had obviously seen them from the ground, but had not thought about thousands of acres filled with them.

Nor had they realized the number of lakes and ponds that form a part of the of the landscape, especially when their presence is enhanced by the reflection from a sun that's low on the horizon. As we flew over the small towns, I pointed out the things that are common to most, and easily identified from above. The old downtown areas now mostly deserted, the multi-wing nursing homes, schools, stadiums, the by-pass with requisite Walmart and surrounding commercial development, the golf course, new housing additions, direction of growth, airport, etc. Probably nothing they hadn't seen before, but from a much different perspective. To then hear them excitedly identify similar landmarks (and others, such as a drill team practicing on a HS football field) in the next town was somewhat gratifying as well.

I remember the story you shared once about a chance meeting at your hanger with a friend of a friend and his wife. Their prior experience with GA had all been in cabin class aircraft and they were on a schedule to be somewhere, so it was all high altitude and ground speed.

You talked them into going to Cedar Mills with you for brunch and reported they had the time of their lives flying low and slow and looking at the cows and haystacks and the two Tioga radio towers.

The fun is still there... You just gotta have you mind right, cap'n.

 

[n20junkie]

The requirement for a JR law degree removes a lot of the fun from flying.

 

[John Baker]

Attrition seems like what is going to end GA according to what I have gathered on another thread. It does make sense. We have been trying to interest younger people in an endeavor that fascinated us older people while we were growing up, but is of little interest to the younger folks. Much the way we really don't care for that noise they claim is music.

The few who are interested in flying are vastly diminished in numbers by the cost and the required effort involved in attaining a license. Then the huge costs of airplane ownership kills off even more of them until there are just a few left who believe they can earn a living in aviation.

That is not enough to keep GA going. When the boomers die off or give it up, that will probably spell the end of it. Small GA airstrips will be turned into tract homes or industrial parks. Cities and towns will not want to maintain them for a few flights a week, if that.

John

 

[j1b3h0]

As others have mentioned, sharing the joy of flight with someone for the first time is fun. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice way to make a living, but it's like that old BB King song...The thrill is gone.

What sounds like fun would be a light sport airplane on floats.

 

[spinfire]

We have been trying to interest younger people in an endeavor that fascinated us older people while we were growing up, but is of little interest to the younger folks.

I'm in my twenties, so I'm one of the younger folks who is interested in GA. But I'm quite lucky. I'm a young software engineer with a lot of personal resources, no kids, and no student loan debt. I can afford it.

Most of my peers cannot afford a hobby like general aviation. Many of them are underemployed, in huge amounts of student loan debt (even the well paid engineers). Many have struggled with unemployment which has left them with little savings or even personal debt. Someone else mentioned that lots of people afford second homes, boats, etc. But these are not young people, not my peers anyway.

The friends I have shown GA to have enjoyed it a lot. They're shocked and sad when they find out the cost. Most young people cannot afford what it costs to acquire your certificate and maintain minimum currency, let alone go on a trip every once in a while. I like to share the experience. I'll continue to take friends on trips at my cost. They can buy me lunch at the destination

So it seems while some in the younger generation are interested, the cost is a big blocker for many - especially in this economy. Finding a replacement for 100LL is one fix for this. Things like LSA are another. But the reality is aviation is expensive. Even more so in a world where the population is increasing and oil is ever more expensive to obtain (EROEI). Maybe gliders are the answer?

 

[JOhnH]

John,
I think I know where you are coming from. Let me ask you this? Are you finding it harder and harder to find fun in other areas too? I am.

I think that there are a lot of things going on in this world that are sucking the life out of a lot of us. This isn't the SZ so I won't go into a lot of it, but in general I find that just about everywhere you turn there is angst and strife and sullenness.

But I do think that "this too shall pass". Maybe things around us won't change the way we like it, but we will learn to adapt.

But think about the good things about flying, and the rest of the life experience. Maybe I am just lucky but my wife likes flying as much as I do. In fact, she is working on her IR now. We use flying to allow us to squeeze a whole lot into a 3 day weekend. We can go further in a day and the "going" part is still fun. And when we get there we feel like we have escaped the rat race for a few hours. Especially if we encounter a really good FBO that treats us like we are special. And not many people we know can do that.

While flipping through this months AOPA monthly magazine, I think it was this months, the one featuring that Canadian float plane, the famous dehavilland beaver, I noticed several things that suggested the fun has gone from GA aviation.

One article cited how pilots worry way too much about every little detail of their flights. Another implied the regulatory labyrinth that keeps growing in size every year.

Then of course, is the very real possibility of finding yourself caught up in some very devastating litigation.

Anyway, my thoughts about a declining GA had focused mainly on the cost of learning to fly, and the regulations, I had never considered the fun factor. Thinking about it though, as a PPSL, in all seriousness, chasing expensive hamburgers from point A to B, really isn't all that much fun, although it is something that most people don't get to do.

I think, if I was involved in aerobatics, that probably would be fun, but at my age, no, I'm not going to do that. Besides, I can't afford it anyway.

My first few years of flying was a lot of fun, simply because I was learning something new and different, but now that I have attained a few skills, such as taking off, aiming and holding it in the right direction, and landing, it really isn't all that much fun anymore. It is something to do though.

Is it really worth the expense and financial risk just to have something different to do? Now I'm wondering.

Considering everything, could "fun" or the lack of it, be the real reason GA is in decline?

John

 

[Dale Young]

I don't find flying as much fun as I used to, but I still enjoy it, especially when flying with others. My goal is to use it as transportation as often as possible, but find its really not that practical as most of my travel is for work and VERY long distances.

If I don't find ways to use it more, I am going to sell my plane. Droning along for hours just doesn't seem as much fun anymore, but I still enjoy it enough to do it.

Same here.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

When I got my PPL I got bored with it real fast because I could only afford to fly an hour or so at a time. That 1/2 hour radius got real boring real quick. I flew for about a year and a half and then quit for several months. A local flight school got a Great Lakes and I got my tailwheel training in it and then aerobatics in it and Decathalons. Now I could do something really fun in my hour and improve my skills on every flight. I have been flying for 35 years and over 3000hrs and have owned and flown and built several warbirds, aerobatic and sport airplanes. I never get bored with flying open cockpit or putting around low and slow in the Cub. To me a regular GA airplane is like a car, just a tool for getting from point A to point B and fairly boring to fly. Don

Great story!

For me, three things have kept flying fun:

1) Doing something different. When I got into a "rut" with my flying fairly early after getting my private, what got me out of it was trying new things. I flew Cubs on skis and floats, I flew a Stearman, I flew aerobatics, I flew a glider, and I got out and went to some new places. That brought back the love of flight.

2) Sharing it. I've given lots of people their first ride in a small airplane, and in some cases their first ride in ANY airplane, and the reactions are always gratifying - Even though lifting off and flying over the city may have become routine for me, to have someone sitting next to me who's all excited brings the magic back into it.

3) The people. Whether through PoA or podcasting or just friends of friends, I've met dozens, probably hundreds, of new friends since becoming a pilot. Going places like Gaston's, the Wings FlyBQ, Oshkosh, or merely traveling around the country and meeting people I've never met in person before but I've talked to online, and sharing dinner or a flight with them, has made the "fraternity of aviators" real to me. The number of places I've had the privilege of "dropping in" to visit with people is incredible, and when I go somewhere like Gaston's or Oshkosh it's like a little slice of heaven, with great people and airplanes all around, none of the worries of the world, and I don't want to leave.

Try new things, share what you have with others, and go places and talk to aviation people. You'll find the fun somewhere along the way.

 

[John Baker]

John,
I think I know where you are coming from. Let me ask you this? Are you finding it harder and harder to find fun in other areas too? I am.

I'm not sure, I've never much thought about that. Before I took up flying, I was involved in judo and a few other MAs. I had to give it up not because I wanted to, but because my dojo became concerned about my only having one eye. They thought I was risking too much, so they pretty much kicked me out, but they did it nicely, goodbye dinner and all.

I'm now working on retiring after 45 years in my industry. That is going to happen in a few months. I will probably have to give up my airplane as well. I'm really concerned about what is next. I should feel excited, but I'm not. Apprehensive is probably a better descriptor.

I guess the answer is yes, I do find it harder to have fun. I guess it's just an age thing, as in been there, done that.

John

 

[N801BH]

Every now and then, I will by flying along, fat, dumb, blase', and oblivious, when suddenly, for NO apparent reason, I am jolted by these thoughts:

1. I am several thousand feet in the air.
2. I am seated on a steel seat bolted to a glorified beer can, and I know EXACTLY how thick that metal really is.
3. I am responsible for getting this contraption and my family safely back to the ground, whether the engine continues to run, or not.
4. This thing was built by high school drop outs -- when I was a sophomore in high school.

Right about this point, I start to laugh, often out loud. Sometimes I even giggle. The whole thing is so...UNLIKELY, that a shmoe like me could actually be DOING all these things.

THAT is when I remember to have fun.

+1000........ Sooo True Jay.

Ben.

 

[N801BH]

That's great!!! :wink2:

I don't get much pleasure looking at shades of gray matter either. I go for the panaramic vistas of the mountain west, and deserts of the south west. From Montana to Arizona. Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Yellowstone, etc. That's the soul reason I prefer small airplanes.

L.Adamson

I am so thankful to be alive and enjoying the magic of General Aviation. I get to wake up everyday and head to the airport to fly in one the most beautiful places in the world...

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44331&highlight=yellowstone

Please don't pinch me and wake me up from this dream....

Ben.