I think citing Langeweische is hitting the aviation tennis ball down the centre of the court…
I think citing Langeweische is hitting the aviation tennis ball down the centre of the court…
It was indeed.
It was the stereotyping of women who ride horses I was referring to.
Student pilots with some riding experience do seem to be able to ‘listen’ better to what the airplane is trying to tell them, and less inclined to apply a white knuckle death grip to the controls.
I second that. When I find out that a student has experience with horses, I can explain with much less words and without much demonstrating from my side what he is supposed to do with the aeroplane.
BTW: My wife is afraid of horses so there is no risk of losing her the way Peter described.
I might reaching the end of my GA ‘career’, with some personal decisions by me to be still to be decided. The situation is partly forced upon me by two of the four PA28 share owners selling their shares in a pre-planned way, but the other (my flying partner) now selling his share for his own personal reasons which was unplanned. There are some options, but to mention them is a thread drift, so I wont.
But I am interested in whether over the ~ four years I have part-owned the plane, and looking at the difference between the share price then, and the share price now, and looking at the hourly rate compared to renting, whether I am in profit. I suspect the answer will be a firm NO, especially if I factor in parts where the group fund has not covered the engine overhaul and a re-spray, significant annuals, hardware including Mode S – some requiring personal funds to be personally input. Plus variations in the montly rate/hourly rate over time, and any other factor I can think of. Plus there is the amount of flying I did when I was a batchelor making it look sustainable, compared to now being married during that period, and although not having any restrictions imposed against me, I naturally have less time available due to other hobbies.
So that to me is an interesting conclusion to the ‘average cost of flying’. But no matter how much it might have cost me, the ‘emotional’ cost of renting would have been far less tolerable, I do know that. Anyhow, who ever buys anything apart from a house, or shares in Orange’ and really makes a profit from the sale of a plane, car, possibly even horse, or some other ‘fun’ utility? Not many I dont suppose ;-)
I might reaching the end of my GA ‘career’, with some personal decisions by me to be still to be decided. The situation is partly forced upon me by two of the four PA28 share owners selling their shares in a pre-planned way, but the other (my flying partner) now selling his share for his own personal reasons which was unplanned. There are some options, but to mention them is a thread drift, so I wont.
Remember that not owning an aircraft or a share in one is not the end of flying.
But I am interested in whether over the ~ four years I have part-owned the plane, and looking at the difference between the share price then, and the share price now, and looking at the hourly rate compared to renting, whether I am in profit
I would think that if you paid more than if renting, all that reflects is that some rental scenarios are no more than structures to enable the owner to have a defence against Benefit in Kind, or something similar (e.g. relieving the capital allowances of the owning company into the owner’s main company, which you can do at 25% a year if renting or 40% a year if not renting). For example there used to be a piston PA46 for rental at an airport not far away from Shoreham for 200 quid an hour wet. Obviously this had to be a scam, and the “company” folded up soon afterwards. But not before a few people got some nice flying out of it. The plane was later sold (I knew the details, partly because it was offered to me) and it was ridden with dodgy maintenance and uncomplied ADs i.e. it was totally illegal to fly.
A very cheap way of continuing to fly might be to find a pilot who likes to have a passenger on longer trips. Get your name added onto the insurance and then log some time. Even enroute time is good. If you pay him for the avgas while you are P1, he will be extremely happy. He won’t be looking at a full cost recovery, which is the key.
Remember that not owning an aircraft or a share in one is not the end of flying
That is true, but my local flying base has closed down today (Panshanger) so I moved to an airfield just under an hours drive away a few months ago (and worse its a fair way round the M25). Slightly more local airfields have little on the rental scene of decent quality. Plus I need to make a life decision and consider a plan to move from my outgrown apartment to a larger property (the same one incidentally I was making before 9 years ago before I though s*d it Im gonna go flying and have some fun). My natural progression plans would involved moving to a share based around a Piper Arrow Turbo (I know some people selling shares), then an EIR/CB IR, which require a fair amount of time (especially as both qualifications seem to require 7 examinations to be sat), which with travelling with work quite often, I just dont have right now. I also maintain a part-time career as a semi-professinal photographer. I had considered going to back to sailing, as at least thats still ‘fun’ and you are responsible for safety and navigation and so on, and wind is always bonus. However, I havent found a ‘fun’ sailing forum quite like any of the aviation ones ;-) Choices choices as they say …
very cheap way of continuing to fly might be to find a pilot who likes to have a passenger on longer trips. Get your name added onto the insurance and then log some time. Even enroute time is good. If you pay him for the avgas while you are P1, he will be extremely happy. He won’t be looking at a full cost recovery, which is the key.
That will probably be my plan for the time being while I consider / look at options. The entire Panshanger crowd has dispersed, meaning a loss of ground community as well, but I know where they have all gone, so I can hitch a ride every now and then ;-) My SEP is up for renewal soon so I am going to get that done as an ‘insurance’ against losing the qualification, and get EASA on my papers instead of JAR. I had wondered what if…. I come back to this in 5 years time, what will GA be like? On the one hand there are massive improvements in software and resources (and whatever I do, I would always consider this site, and Peter your trip reports which were my first ever real inspiration outside of the local flying club’ to be priceless resources), but on the other hand you see increased zones all around Southend and Farnborough maybe, meaning actually very little wiggle room in the South East if you just want to have a quiet meander around on a late sunny afternoon.
The other option, which I have looked at multiple times in case Shoreham closes (which at times looked very likely – so likely in fact that I relocated my plane, with huge hassle, a few times in case the airport goes bust and blocks movements like happened at Manston when it went bust the first time) is to move to a type which can operate from a farm strip.
The south east UK countryside contains large numbers of strips, in the 400-500m region. According to the police here, Sussex has 82 of them.
A pity about Panshanger closing. I used to fly in there, before Justine moved down here 
It would need to be a suitable type, and most don’t allow syndicates (to keep down the movements). Also most seem to be rather “private” so a newcomer needs to “build a relationship” over time.
A C172 and especially a C182 is fine from 400-500m if the grass is good.
I never found the required 700m+ grass for my TB20… well not without other issues.
An extension of that approach, which I have also tried, is to try to start a farm strip. You can advertise in Farmers’ Weekly; you will get responses OK because many farmers are looking to diversify. Then you are back to the same old problem of finding some partners who are willing to put their hands in their pockets, who you get on with, etc.
I am sure GA will be the same 5 years from now as it is presently. Controlled airspace is not an issue and anything that Farnborough gets will need to come with a policy of assured transits otherwise there will be mayhem. The CAA knows this, and anyway Farnborough has hardly any movements.
The other thing to consider is gliding as an option.
