Hmmm… give or take a bit, that reads like a description of married/family life in one’s 50s while working below (what in the UK is called) the “middle management” level, anywhere in the world 
But still you have achieved more than most of those people, because you have a plane and can fly it to places.
According to others down there, Zurich is a fog generator…
Peter wrote:
According to others down there, Zurich is a fog generator…
It depends on the season and the exact location. As you can see in this photo which I took last week…
…flying commercially:
But Kloten is not in an ideal place. Oftentimes, the city is in the clear while the airport is in the fog.
View from work this morning… actually has not been too bad re fog but in the last few days quite windy.
At least not as bad as in Amsterdam…
Peter wrote:
They say the average age at Oshkosh goes up a year every year, which (if Osh was representative of the US GA scene as a whole) is a looming disaster.
Osh definitively is representative, and maybe also has a younger average than GA as a whole. Maybe GA simply is a “generation” thing, for those who were young in the 40s to 80s ? The younger generation know by birth that the fastest, cheapest and most comfortable way of getting from A to B is by airliner, and that’s all they care to know about flying. Us over 50 still dreams of the day when we can use our planes like we use our cars. The younger generation don’t even want cars.
LeSving wrote:
The younger generation know by birth that the fastest, cheapest and most comfortable way of getting from A to B is by airliner, and that’s all they care to know about flying.
Then why do we have so many youngsters betting their lifes away on pay to fly schemes? Why do we fill up every single youth camp for young aviators every year to capacity?
Last weekend I was at a flight sim event (the 12th of its kind since it’s founding 12 years ago) and we had plenty of youngsters gushing over the exhibits.
I think we give the youth less credit then they deserve.
Yes, they are very interested in aviation. But many are mislead into unrealistic and in some cases outright fraudulent promises by airline pilot dream machines and spend their money and in many case other people’s money too on this adventure. Would they go the “normal” route via PPL and then higher education instead, we’d see a lot more young PPL’s emerging.
On Mooneyspace and in the Mooney facebook groups, I am encouraged by quite a few youngsters who buy their first C and E models at bargain prices and make them up only later to move up to newer models. I notice that the discussion about probable buys is much different then here in Europe however. There seems to be more know how and more experience around and at the same time people are willing to take higher risks because they know they can sort them out themselfs. Not too long ago, we had a guy who bought a really “shagged out” M20F and made it up on his own in about a year. It’s a beauty now and in real good shape, having been restored by the guy himself. Maybe because owner maintenance is very rare in Europe and not encouraged we see people so spooked about this stuff.
GA is a generation thing in the way that mostly people do only get the money to really enjoy GA and buy into more expensive planes once they are in their 40ties and 50ties. And the myth of everything below 50k € being “shagged out” and basically only worth scrap metal is very contraproductive to that as well. I’ve seen enough planes change hands for 10-20k in recent years which were absolutely flight ready and airworthy and keep their owners very happy.
As I’ve written before, for most people the biggest trouble is having enough time.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
I think we give the youth less credit then they deserve.
Or give ourselves more credit than we deserve ? 
I think the younger generation(s) do whatever they want to do. There are lots more choices today than 30-40 years ago. Facts still remain. The average age of PPL goes up, while the average total number of PPL goes down. The number of people wanting to become professional pilots, is probably just a constant, a set percentage, modulated by demand and some other factors.
LeSving wrote:
The number of people wanting to become professional pilots, is probably just a constant, a set percentage, modulated by demand and some other factors.
Yes. My thing with that simply is that in the old days, where the ATPL was done step by step, someone who stopped or was stopped at PPL or CPL level usually would not end up dead broke and possibly fly privately thereafter. I am one such example, even though I reached the ATPL, but without any debt. Those airline pilot wannabe’s who drop out today are so deep in the smelly stuff they can’t afford to fly at all.
I’d much prefer it if the split between those who go the professional way and those who will stay PPL would start after the PPL level, not ab initio. So people can see what it is to fly and find if they want to go further or not, but at least they have one valid paper in their hands.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
My thing with that simply is that in the old days, where the ATPL was done step by step, someone who stopped or was stopped at PPL or CPL level usually would not end up dead broke and possibly fly privately thereafter
It is not clear to me why that isn’t still possible. The “normal” way to become a pilot in Norway is through the military, or at least that is the first choice (cost nothing, cool aircraft, cool job etc). The next choice is the university, where you get a CPL and “frozen” ATPL (whatever that is?) and a Bachelor degree (costs a lot of money, but you also get a university degree in “aviation”. This is now being extended to also include a master degree). Both those alternatives are in high demand and difficult to enter. The rest usually take the PPL at some club in Norway, then go somewhere else (the US usually) for CPL, or maybe ATPL?. For helicopters it is similar, but there are no university alternatives. Several private alternatives in Scandinavia though, and you can stop at PPL level if you want.
I would think this is just another example of pilots being their own worst enemy. You have to do this or that, etc. The same thing can be seen in PPL vs microlight license. It is perfectly possible today to start with microlight and end up with a PPL (and higher). Suggesting this on this board, and the PPL-only hordes pops up from everywhere.
I was watching Red Bull TV yesterday, Red Bull air races. Then it suddenly occurred to me, when listening to the interviews and seeing the experience each competitor had. One would believe that all the competitors are from rich families, have inherited a whole bunch of money or something similar. One would believe this is a typical rich man’s sport. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. They have all been sacrificing everything else in life for a burning desire to fly, and eventually end up flying air races after all kinds of different aviation related “careers”. (don’t get me wrong, many of them are previous “top gun” fighter pilots, lead civilian instructor etc) The point is, they have not become pilots to prove anything, or to achieve status or to become a local hero or something. It’s love of flying, pure and simple.
Where is the desire or “urge” to get a PPL? From time to time we can read on this board about one fresh PPL asking the question: I just got my PPL, now what? What a bizarre question to ask, but at the same time, somewhat understandable given the “state of GA”. If you love flying, you would always find a way to fly, some way or the other, and it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. It can be done at very little cost. Any “problems” regarding this, only occurs when it is not the flying part that attracts, but something else. I talked to a retired fighter pilot some months back (a friend of the family). He had been flying fighters his whole career, being a squadron leader and higher up. He could tell me he never had any urge to become a fighter pilot or fly airplanes in general as a kid. He just applied to see if he got through the “needle in the eye”, which he did. He thought flying was OK, a nice job, he liked the tactical aspects of it, but the last years was boring. Since he retired, he has been following his real passion, hunting and fishing. Flying a small private airplane wasn’t even remotely interesting to him.
That brings me to the problem with GA and PPL. The value as private transportation and private utility is practically zero, with a few and far apart exceptions (not thinking about the viable commercial GA, helicopters, biz-jets etc and those with bags of money to purchase and use real utility aircraft, PC-12 category). What’s left is the passion for flying, the passion for aircraft, aviation, aviation history. If that passion is gone, or have never been there in the first place, then why on earth do this? The thing is, there are other stuff that can fill the void of transportation and utility. These are building aircraft, maintaining aircraft, restoring and maintaining old classics, organizing (clubs, fly-ins, shows etc), the social aspects, sports (in all forms), competition (in all forms), recreation (trips, holidays). To me it is all too obvious, for private GA to have a renaissance, the certification bureaucracy has to go. It is the single largest factor that strangles private GA, and it serves no purpose whatsoever. In all honesty, I also think the new cost share regulations, as they are formulated, is a huge mistake (of biblical proportions more or less). That regulation gives EASA all they need to strangle private GA forever. It is really astonishing to me the way that regulation is sheered on this site.
Well, enough rant for today
LeSving wrote:
That brings me to the problem with GA and PPL. The value as private transportation and private utility is practically zero
I dont disagree but this week I will be going from my local airport to a busines meeting. By aircraft, 35 minutes, by road, if everthing goes perfectly 2 hours 40, but knowing the motorways could well be 3.5 hours. All in including a taxi the other end, getting to the aiport (on nearly the same route anyway) and time for a walk around and it probably will save three hours, but be a whole lot more enjoyable. Then I will be off for a birthday lunch perhaps France or Cornwall, neither realistic for a day trip. For one week that isnt bad utility value.
