Warbird Information Exchange

Interesting thread all...

I concur with what seems to be the basic response here... that times have changed in several areas. One of the reasons I became interested in aviation was that a cousin of mine--an impecunious university student at the time (mid-70s)--also had his licence, and used to take members of the family flying. In those days that was still (just) feasible. Today it simply is not. The pursuit long ago became too costly. Now I don't really know whether or not I would've tried to follow my cousin into aviation as an avocation; I am uncertain whether or not I have the requisite abilities. Point is I won't even be finding that out, anyway--not unless my fiscal situation takes a dramatic turn for the better. I'm doing OK..but nowhere near that OK! (My cousin, incidentally, no longer flies either: priorities, too, change, especially when a hobby becomes so much costlier than it once was).

The pre- and especially post-9/11 tightening of security measures pretty much everywhere won't have helped either. But I think that probably only keeps some kids from getting interested at all...sheer financial reality would almost certainly keep most of them at arm's length regardless, just like me and legions of other current flying buffs who'll always wonder, "what if"! A melancholy subject. Interesting though that a well-known, non-aviation periodical finds enough merit in it to print a story. Maybe there's a bit of hope there; who knows. Shan't hold my breath though!

S.

Video games...please. I enjoy video games just as much as the next kid. But that dosnt mean that I sit around all day playing them.
And when I get a job in the next year, I wont be applying at any Mcdonalds, no supermarket, not any mall. First im heading out to my local airport and see if I can work there. Not sure what I can do for them, maybe just mow the grass at first, but I sure as hell will learn about aviation.
Oh and Django, I will do it for you.

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom

I started to get my license in 1992, but quite simply, at about 30 hours, ran out of money....some of it was spent on a bad instructor who was more worried about his diamond business on the ground than teaching me how to fly in the air.....after a change of instructors, I learned how to LAND the plane after 7-8 tries (the most difficult basic maneuver, I think)...I acquired my student license which meant I could take myself up but no one else (I snuck my cat up once....) I did have an 'incident' where I floated a PA-140 off the side of the runway and down a hill (I was used to high wing Cessnas and the low wing of the PA caused me to continue on in ground effect forever!) but I walked away from it and the plane only needed air put back in two of its wheel struts.....but ever since then I have been writing and photographing warbirds and letting others do the flying as opposed to flying them myself.....someting I would LIKE to do is finish my private license but with today's financial realities, I don't see that happeningytime soon...

Mark

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Mark Morris

There are too many poor excuses here for people not going flying. There are PLENTY of clubs and organizations out there to support it. Joining AOPA gets you a discount, buying block time gets you a discount, joining a flying club gets you a discount. The problem with how most people learn to fly is that they do next to NO planning to get their license- I know, because I was one of them. We don't make an estimate of what is really required, don't make a sound financial plan, jump into it with our hearts instead of our heads, and then we don't have our license. I'm not going to detail the hurdles I had to go through ( and some of which I continually go through to keep flying), but suffice to say that they are much worse than the excuses I am reading here.

If you want to lament about the increased security AND say it is hurting aviation AND use it as an excuse- fine. But I am deaf to it. I am flying under the most F***** up situation ever, the ADIZ, where everybody knows it is a joke. We are playing along so we can FLY, not sit on the ground and pretend, dream, or fantasize about flying, but really FLY. WHAT, if I violate the airspace, they take my license? They haven't gotten me yet, but if they do, big deal. 30 days of suspended license. Who cares? I'll go back to flying the first day I can. F*** the ADIZ...

If you really believe in aviation, then you will get your hands on it any way you can. If you really want to fly, then you will do it any way you can- hang glider, ultra-light, work an extra job, not spend money at the casino, not go out to eat more than once a month. We are talking about $6000 to $8000 here in the US. Working part time at a gas station for a year will put that money in the bank.

I know there will probably be some posts after this one detailing exactly how, why, where and when life has prevented an individual from flying. They are all valid. Unfortunately, the longer you listen to yourself making excuses, the less of a chance you will ever get a license. You are never going to get your license if you don't resolve to do it. That license is not hanging in a cool package on a shelf at WALMART for $29.99, it's not at Oshkosh, and it's not on the WIX. Nobody is going to hand it to you and nobody is going to coax you into trying to do it. You have to make that committment yourself. And this is not just about flying- same principle applies everywhere in life.

Forgotten Field is basically right. I'm 24 and have been working in a warehouse almost full time in order to save for flying. I've gotten my Private, have about 175 hours and am just about ready to do the instrument rating before trying for the commercial (I have enough saved in the bank to do the instrument straight through). What's currently holding me back is trying to make a decision on whether or not to try and finance an airplane in order to try and recoup some of the $15,000 I figure it will take to get through the instrument rating and commercial license. I'm wondering about whether or not I might be able to find something like a Cessna 150 with a mid-time engine and IFR equipped that I could afford that wouldn't be too much hastle. Unless I'm seriously underestimating aircraft ownership, I would hope that I could have it more than halfway paid off about the time I got the commercial rating and then could either sell it or finish paying for it.
I'm figuring that the operating costs couldn't be too much more than $50/hr including gas, and right now it's costing about $100/hr to rent the cheapest 172s at the airport.
Any thoughts? Please PM me.

Ryan

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

You know the one thing I have seen the most on this subject is about being a PILOT!!! There are other faucets in the aviation world such as Maintenance. When I posted on this earlier I guess I should have included the fact that I see less people interested in ALL faucets of aviation and not just the flying end of the biz. I'm able to fly, I have the means to do so and yet I have not taken the time to go and get my license, why? I'm having too much fun doing the maintenance side of things. Will I get a license? Yes one day. But I think the youth of America is just losing out by not being able to go out and hang around the airport and look at airplanes, and talk to aviation related people. When I was kid I could go down to the airport and hang out at the local restoration shop all day and have a blast, they would let go and climb on the P-38 center section in the storage yard, or the A-26 sitting next to it. I could even go crawl through the flyable airplanes they had on the ramp as long as I did not flip any switches. I was even lucky enough to go for rides in most of the aircraft they had at one time or another, I learned how to drive in an old army jeep they had and eventually ended with a part time job there. But today you just don't see that kind of access to the airport. Yes aviation is starting to fade, especially when one looks at the cost and security measures that are in place today, something has to change or else? Ok I’ll quit ranting again.
Scott......

Not for want of trying!

In the late 70s there was the TakeOff program, the GAME Plan (General Aviation Market Expansion) in the 80s and now Be A Pilot.



Ouch!

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Commemorative Air Force
Experimental Aircraft Association
Warbirds of America

What are you waiting for? Join us!

Best way to contact me- email my last name @gmail.com

For those of you in the United States, if you can't afford to buy flying training your Uncle Sam can completely finance your flying training, all the way up through Commercial, Multiengine, Instrument Airplane.

Of course, you also owe him some stuff in exchange.

A couple of days ago I met Evelyn Johnson, who is listed in the Guinness book of records as having the most hours in the cockpit of anyone alive (57,000+). She is 96 years old and she came to speak to a class I was taking this summer in Aerospace Education through the University of Tennessee; it's for teachers and it gives us tools and lesson plans to incorporate all things aviation into our classes (www.capae.info). The Civil Air Patrol plays a tremendous role in support, even flying each of us on orientation flights in a C-182. Evelyn still flies occasionally, but only in the right seat; her eyes and ears are not what they used to be. Anyway, she talked of her love affair with aviation and told a bunch of great stories; very entertaining. Her sense of comedic timing was wonderful as well...she knew how to make you wait for the punchline.

I have a copy of her biography and brought it to her to sign. She asked "Do you fly?" and I mumbled "No, but I really should." In my mind I was going over all the great reasons why I don't: time, money, confidence... When I went back to my seat, I looked at what she had written. "Dave, you should learn to fly. It is fun. Evelyn Bryan Johnson."

Yes ma'am...it is. Lesson learned.

Dave G

The bottom line is that if you are going to fly for a living there are easier ways to make money then being a pilot and its not as "fun" as it use to be but I soloed in 86.
As for access to the airport,thats a thin line for me being a I.A. Its hard to watch the owners never mind his/her kids.
One town I worked at had its Fire Dept at the airport while the town built them a new station,the firefighters like the fact that people "kids" coudn't gest drop in.
Comm,Instr,Floats,taildragger. A&P,.I.A.