GA artical

Yesterday I had reason to take a cylinder to a FBO here in Puget Sound that also has a radio shop, a engine rebuild shop, a maintenance shop, a parts counter, and a flight division ..

the hangar was dark, the flight planning rooms were dark, the pilot shop was open no one around, and I had to knock on three doors to find the guy I talked to to take custody of the cylinder,

this facility 5 years ago would have had 20-25 people on staff, yesterday It had 3 people in the building.
 
A friend of mine is an instrument rated pilot who used to have his own plane. Now he flies a boat. I asked why he gave up flying (MANY years ago). He said we all need a hobby but flying was just too expensive.
I'm inclined to believe that each jump in costs permanently takes out chunks of able bodied pilots. We'll soon be left with only military, commercial, or the rich. With UAVs taking over the military flying, new commercial pilots will need to be trained by their companies in an internship program. FAs to the flight deck!
$45 an hour fuel for flying. Insurance. Maintenance (shop hours $80). Parts. And the government wanting to shut us off all the while wanting MORE money via user fees, registration, landing/takeoff fees, and TAXES.
There are no cheap hobbies. Just some that are not as expensive.
 
I haven't shared the pattern with another aircraft in memory.

I was in flight for over an hours Tuesday, in years past when we monitored 118.2 120.7 (Whidbey approach east and west) you couldn't get a word in edge wise, Tuesday I heard one call to a C-9 doing the approach to NUW.

122.8 is common traffic for several airports here in Puget Sound, it was total quite. not a single click of the mike in over an hour.
 
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