GA Dropping Below a Critical Mass

UK forum terminology

Not sure that its origin has much to do with forums. Wobbly refers to the variable blade angle of the propeller – as opposed to on in which the blade angle is established at manufacture and is (essentially) immutable.

So it means in flight variable pitch propeller, not necessarily constant speed propeller, and not ground adjustable variable pitch ?

It just means variable pitch propeller (anything else is fixed pitch), seems a UK terminology that no one else understand but still make British pilots very special, a bit like “Basic Service” ;)

G109 is TW & VP but funny enough you don’t need any signoff for that in TMG class rating…

That would be the generally-accepted meaning, and accords with EASA documentation relating to logbook endorsements – which was at the root of this thread.

Peter wrote:

The basic problem in the UK is that way too many Brits are tight;

I don’t think this is true – some (loud) people are generally tight, but everyone else is just tired of paying fees upon fees upon fees which return incredibly poor value for money (especially since for most people on middle class incomes, it’s a stretch to afford flying at all). When you have to pay landing fees, then a handling fee, then no one lifts a finger to actually provide a service once you’ve paid this handling fee, and the airfield keeps only bankers’ hours, it represents absolutely abysmal value for money and people resent having to pay fees upon fees to use such a “service”, especially when you look and see how it works in the USA or even France.

Personally I’m fine with paying if there’s a value proposition. e.g. I have no problem with (for example) Blackpool, which will cost around 30 quid for a day there because there’s no bullshit to deal with, there’s good transportation links at the airport, and it opens early in the morning and closes later than I’d ever want to fly home. But an airport charging similar fees which closes at 17:30 and has some convoluted procedure for out of hours use? I’ll give it a miss.

The other problem is I think buying two much aircraft. We’re staying with what we’ve got, even though perhaps we could stretch to something sexy and fast like a Bonanza, because we can afford the Auster entirely and comfortably and afford to upgrade it without having to penny pinch, and with all the costs of an IFR plane we’d probably only do a couple of trips extra a year compared to what we do now. I think for anyone looking for ownership, to make ownership a fun experience you have to make sure you never need to penny pinch.

Alioth wrote:
“I think for anyone looking for ownership, to make ownership a fun experience you have to make sure you never need to penny pinch.”

This is great advice. We could also afford a more capable plane. But the Rallye is affordable, even when repairs are required.

I do not see the main GA activity challenge in people giving up flying, but in that the number of young people taking up flying are not big enough to replace the number of pilots dying from old age (or loosing their medical a little while earlier).

LeSving wrote:

What’s a wobbly prop?

I thought this was a wobbly prop:
Singular Sensation – AOPA