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Biggest fish to fry in flying

Further to the Pipistrel Panthera thread, Peter made an observation:

There are far bigger fish to fry in flying than the mixture lever....

What do the forum think are the issues, the big fish to fry so to speak, in flying/GA? If you had one magic bullet (ok, maybe more if you are lucky), what issues would you resolve/improve and how would you do this?

I think ground infrastructure is the biggest single thing. So few airports which are open for useful hours, etc. If this could be changed, GA activity would rocket due to the increased utility value. Just look at the USA...

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I think ground infrastructure is the biggest single thing. So few airports which are open for useful hours, etc. If this could be changed, GA activity would rocket due to the increased utility value. Just look at the USA...

Keep in mind that in the USA, the rest of the infrastructure is very poor compared to Europe. There are very few business trips where GA really makes sense. In the 70-80s, it was quite common for companies to use GA but that was before widespread airline services at low cost and fast trains. I'd say the utility value of GA in Europe is mostly a thing of the past, nowadays you mostly find enthusiasts.

In my view - cost of ownership - Europe particularly

EuropaBoy
EGBW

From what I have seen so far -

  1. PPR
  2. Hours of operation
  3. PCL
EGTK Oxford

Cost of fuel. At Lelystad it's now 3.03 euros per liter.

  • The costly system of certification and maintenance that means it's easier and cheaper to hold two pilots' licences and keep an aircraft on the N-register by paying a company to hold the aircraft in trust, than it is to fly an EASA aircraft.
  • The high cost and barriers to entry for new aircraft, engine and equipment manufacturers.
  • The onerous IR training requirements for PPLs which, again, is another reason to train in the US and fly an N-reg.
    The disappointing thing is that EASA could have been that magic bullet. Ok, it was never going to happen, but it could have been.
    Oh yes, I nearly forgot:
  • PCL
Fairoaks, United Kingdom

The costly system of certification and maintenance that means it's easier and cheaper to hold two pilots' licences and keep an aircraft on the N-register by paying a company to hold the aircraft in trust, than it is to fly an EASA aircraft.....the high cost and barriers to entry for new aircraft, engine and equipment manufacturers

Dave Unwin did a good article in this month's Pilot magazine which discussed why the relative cost of aircraft has increased 3 times greater than that of cars, even though cars are subject to constant redesign and innovation whilst Piper and Cessna still knock out by and large the same stuff they did 50 years ago. This was mainly discussed in the context of Part 23 certification and the absurdity of applying the same certification criteria to PA28's as are applied to KingAir 200's.

Apparently there is a move to have a more sensible certification category, Part 23-lite which it is anticipated will reduce cost of certification and hopefully introduce some badly needed competition, which the article didn't mention, but I suspect is a major factor in high aircraft costs and poor innovation.

So, for all us ignoramus's out there, why is it G reg maintenance is so much more draconian and costly than N reg equivalent? Presumably there is little significant difference in observed safety between the two regimes.

I think the biggest fish to fry is eliminating airspace encoursions. Every time a GA aircraft gets in the way of an airliner the pressure to just ban us grows. This is just as big a problem in North America as it is in Europe.

The sad part is a portable GPS, i pad, tablet etc, with a moving map and an up to date database makes it so easy to avoid airspace you should not be in..........

Wine, Women, and Airplanes = Happy
Canada

I agree with Peter - more GA airfields! I live in East Cheshire, a GA desert. We have Sleap a long, long drive to the south, Liverpool just a long drive west but getting ever less GA friendly, Manchester which is a GA-free airfield (pretty much), or Barton which used to be our GA playground but isn't what it was.

So where's a chap supposed to fly from? If anyone knows of a non-spamcan preferably LAA tailwheel strip-based share in the area I'd be interested!

Barton is my spiritual home.
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