Mooney_Driver wrote:
Personally I believe in Europe the main problem with this is overcrowding. Many parts of Europe today have no more vacant spaces where there are actually few people living, most of it is like a large metropolitain area grown together.
You have recognized that very well. But unfortunately you represent the opinion of a minority. At least in Germany, several organizations are of the opinion that we have room for even more people from all over the world. https://www.proasyl.de/pressemitteilung/es-reicht-wir-haben-platz/
The ongoing mass immigration leads to land loss, sealing of nature and serious problems to find housing in cities and even in the countryside.
France, Germany, UK, and a few others are still doing well, arguably largely supported by the “WW2 inheritance” of many runways.
France has invested a lot in aviation post WW2 as a continuation of a pre-war centralised infrastructure quinquennal development plan (the USSR would have been proud).
In the early 50es there were about 250 airfields (including private / restricted ops) compared with 390 in the mid-60es already. Regional airfields continued opening all the way into the late 80es.
skydriller wrote:
Sweden does have its GA problems though…Have you tried visiting Stockholm by light aeroplane?
I know what you mean, but that has nothing to do with “GA envy”, rather with business decisions of the Stockholm/Bromma airport operator who wanted the capacity used by light GA to expand the commercial ops.
(That said, it is certainly possible to use Stockholm/Bromma with light GA – there’s no ban.)
highflyer wrote:
The ongoing mass immigration leads to land loss, sealing of nature and serious problems to find housing in cities and even in the countryside.
So now refugees are responsible for the problems in GA, „interesting“ causality you imply there.
Note: one of the most active GA regions in the world is also one of the most densely populated, the LA metro.
I’d say the major problem of GA is that it’s in the tight hands of an elitist and isolated group (basically middle aged old white farts) and the opposite of inclusive. How many 23 year old women are members of EuroGA? How many 19 year olds from Syria learn gliding at the local club?
If more young people would find it interesting, flying activity could pick up, costs could come down and more people could work together and lobby for solutions, and so forth. A bit of a hen/egg problem.
Or, immediately stopping all immigration could lead to a GA boom, hmm?
Snoopy wrote:
basically middle aged old white farts
This has an easy explanation:
Age question: people get richer as they age. I have loved aviation since I was a little kid but could never afford it until by the late 20s. And then only barely. It’s natural that most people who enjoy GA as a hobby (and not as an investment in the prospect of becoming an airline pilot) are 40+ years old and are in the top 1% of earners, many own their own businesses etc. So no wonder here. And I would venture and say the same is true of any other “expensive” hobby.
Gender question: no matter how hard the politically correct establishment tries to shove women into aviation (or the STEM fields), the simple truth is that they are generally just not as interested as men are. Period. There is absolutely NO conspiracy to stop women from entering aviation, in fact quite the opposite, the few that I have come across have ALWAYS been treated really well by everyone around. They were treated better than other blokes were treated, presumably not to scare them off, or because men just find women pilots attractive and try to flirt with them, or for the positive PR in all social media about how incluse of women they are or whatever.
Race question: I have never noticed this being an issue.
Airbourne_Again wrote:
(That said, it is certainly possible to use Stockholm/Bromma with light GA – there’s no ban.)
Funny you should say that – ISTR that in 2018 or 2019 I called that airport to see if I could fly in VFR and was told no…did I mis-remember?
Regards, SD..
Snoopy wrote:
I’d say the major problem of GA is that it’s in the tight hands of an elitist and isolated group (basically middle aged old white farts) and the opposite of inclusive. How many 23 year old women are members of EuroGA? How many 19 year olds from Syria learn gliding at the local club?
There is some truth in that (how much probably depends on your country), but I think another effect is just as important (or more). Throughout my life, all my spare time activities (with one exception) have been – shall we say – “odd”. I’ve been involved in live action role playing, Tolkien fandom, a preserved railway and flying. There is a very marked lack of immigrants in these activities – even second generation. My guess is that when you are trying to adapt into a new culture, you want to engage in “mainstream” activities and not appear more of an outsider than you already are because of your background. Actually of these activities, flying is the one with the largest amounts of immigrants (although I would guess primarily second generation).
(The exception? Politics. I’m a member of a political party.)
Airborne_Again wrote:
Isn’t it strange then, that Sweden, which has traditionally been among the most “socialist” and “environmentalist” countries in Europe, doesn’t have this kind of “envy”-based opposition to GA flying?
Scandinavian socialism, built as it is on very uniform culture and values, is a very different thing than say, Venezuelan style socialism. One difference is that Scandinavian culture encourages success, because it’s seen as the source for funding government activity that satisfies the objectives of a very uniform majority, along with e.g. 70% total tax rates. This in contrast with the Venezuelan model within a diverse culture, in which government removes earnings of the more successful elements and uses the money to buy the votes of the less successful in order to establish totalitarian power in a divide and conquer strategy.
Imagining the activity and people at my US based being viewed as elItist makes me smile, I suppose somebody must hold that view but the t-shirt attired bunch of independent thinkers is not what most see as an cultural elite. Better to go near the water to find that bunch.
I think population density is the source of a great many evils. It makes people behave like rats in a cage as they fight over those resources that can’t be expanded by enhanced economic activity.
Alpha_Floor wrote:
[Women] were treated better than other blokes were treated, presumably not to scare them off, or because men just find women pilots attractive and try to flirt with them, or for the positive PR in all social media about how incluse of women they are or whatever.
I don’t think the women would appreciate either the flirting or being used for PR – so these very things could scare them off.
The demographic at our small club is that the majority can be split into 2 distinctly opposite ends of the scale, ie we have one group which consists mainly of young people between the ages of 14 and 20. The biggest group however is of retirement age or I should say retired.
The other club I am a member of consists mainly of pilots or student pilots between 20 and 30.
One club is attached to a small town, the other a much larger one.
Naturally the club in the larger town has many more active pilots, more planes and knocks up about around 5000 hours a year.
The smaller club with just one aircraft does about 500hrs a year, but it also has a ULM which flies about 400hrs a year.
Both clubs have a small proportion of females, who are treated exactly the same as everyone else. It would be great to have more just as it would be great to have more ethnic minorities or indeed more of anyone but you can’t go round dragging them off the streets, and that would be illegal.:))
