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How buoyant is GA in the USA

Over my 25 year GA career in the UK the amount of flying and its associated infrastructure is most deffinatly reduced.

We lement about how the regulation here is killing it. But even without the measures we have how is GA prospering in the USA?

I think there is very minor impact of regulations on the decline of infrastructure. It is selling the airfields to the wrong people and not securing it by pilots, even if there is no financial gain in doing so.

mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany

In the US, in general, the infrastructure is the same but the number of operarions and pilots is going gently downhill. The good news is that used aircraft and new parts (e.g. engine cylinders) are easier for the average pilot to afford, RVs and the like have been built in quantity, fuel prices are down and although hangars at public airports still aren’t exactly easy to find, they can now be found if you look around. It’s a great time to be flying in the US if that’s what you want to do.

For me the worst thing in US GA is that the people who really understood many of the beautiful antique planes, in detail and from their own experience, are slowly fading away and there are less interested people to replace them. That’s life.

As Silvaire says, the numbers seem to be in a gentle decline here. However – and that’s of course only a snapshot – where I rent my a/c from I see lots of young people learning to fly and most of them just for the joy of it. Interestingly enough, quite a high number of young women amongst them. I have no idea about their motivation (the usual answer is simply: I love to fly!) but they definitely are there. As most/all of you here know, GA flying in the US is vastly different from Europe. I’ve just come back from a 9-day tour of the West Coast, flying from SoCal all the way to the Canadian border and back. With the exception of Stovepipe Wells (in Death Valley) every single airfield had an FBO with crew rest rooms, lounge, crew car and/or shuttle to a hotel; they also arrange for rental cars and accommodation if required. And yes, the lineman typically drives the rental car right up to your airplane. It’s just more fun….

Silvaire – it’s a huge problem that the older generation mechanics are all disappearing. Most of the new ones work on big jets etc where the part is just replaced when it breaks or shipped from storage. They don’t want to earn peanuts working in an oily and dirty GA shop, they want the white floors, benefits and better pay. Can’t really blame them either. But that means that the knowledge of where to get parts serviced, where to look for used parts, surplus etc, stuff that takes a grizzled GA mechanic a lifetime to learn, is getting lost.

As an example my mechanic on the Commander charges $45/hr. He’s as old school as they come. He’ll overhaul a part, or even have it made, before he buys a new unit. H e wants to save his clients money. My fancier LA mechanic charges $95/hr. They’re a little faster and do a great job, but don’t have the in depth knowledge the older guy has. they’ll still send stuff for overhaul, tho. But if I take my plane to an authorized factory service center for Commanders, I’ll easily have to pay $120 and upwards as shop rate. The last one will resist you when you want them to find better used parts. They just want to replace with new.

So, you can see how depending on what type of service you choose, you can either have the most expensive plane in the world to service, or the cheapest.

AdamFrisch wrote:

As an example my mechanic on the Commander charges $45/hr. He’s as old school as they come. He’ll overhaul a part, or even have it made, before he buys a new unit. H e wants to save his clients money. My fancier LA mechanic charges $95/hr. They’re a little faster and do a great job, but don’t have the in depth knowledge the older guy has. they’ll still send stuff for overhaul, tho. But if I take my plane to an authorized factory service center for Commanders, I’ll easily have to pay $120 and upwards as shop rate. The last one will resist you when you want them to find better used parts. They just want to replace with new.

But that isn’t just about expertise. Perhaps paying more would have you in the air earlier?

EGTK Oxford

@AdamFrisch, my comment was (originally) about guys who could tell you details about Waco cabin biplanes or similar for hours on end, antiquers who are now likely to be in their 70s or 80’s, holding knowledge that will inevitably be lost… at least in the immediately accessible sense that they remember it. But I can see that it applies just about as well to your Commander mechanic, and his approach.

I feel very lucky to be in contact with ‘young’ guys in their 40s and 50s who picked up the bug and want to keep the cool stuff flying. In their case it’s mainly a hobby, but they know stuff I need to know and help me maintain my relatively simple planes.

For more complex planes I imagine selecting how (and by whom) to get your plane repaired in the US depends on your phase of ownership. If you just got the thing and its got all kinds of bugs and deferred maintenance, you take your time and go slower, with smarter, less costly people. Later when it’s just routine work done on a ‘dialed in’ plane (or it’s a late model plane) maybe you can go for the modern parts changer types, get faster service and stay airborne.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 27 Apr 04:04

JasonC wrote:

But that isn’t just about expertise. Perhaps paying more would have you in the air earlier?

No doubt.

What is it they say? Out of fast, good and cheap, you can have two?….

AdamFrisch wrote:

The last one will resist you when you want them to find better used parts. They just want to replace with new.

Less problems for them. Used parts will go wrong sooner, might not fit right, no warranty, un happy customer = Possible pain in the back side.

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