@Mooney_Driver
That’s actually not what i said, and i do not want to leave it uncommented. I did not write that i can “fly anytime i would like” or when the weather is nice enough. I meant: I do not HAVE to fly (just like you) and i can stay home when the weather is too bad. (It is true that as a self employed i have a more flexible schedule).
I find (personally, other opinions respected) flying unpressurized airplanes above FL200, and especially in FL250, unsafe, and that is the reason i did not buy a Turbo. Sure, it would be faster in FL160 too – but i rather have the more robust NA, which has a better payload too, and is less nose heavy.
Obviously, nobody has to fly GA. Everybody has the option of using the alternative transport. So why argue this point? It’s completely irrelevant.
People choose to fly GA for a variety of reasons. One’s wealth obviously comes into it strongly – because GA travel is usually more expensive so the more money you have the more value you attach to the fun aspect of flying, saving time, convenience, etc. As in all other aspects of life really… money buys options.
I think the biggest thing holding people with a given amount of spare cash back is renting. Renting has the highest marginal cost (the highest DOC) so maximally discourages doing longer trips. Whereas if you own a plane (alone or in a syndicate) your fixed costs are covered separately and don’t need to be costed into each hour’s flying. For example I can fly my TB20 for less than it costs to rent a C152 locally.
I think the biggest thing holding people back is the high % of renters in GA.
hehe, more or less the same has been said in other words…
Which is basically another way of saying you need to be an owner.
But I am not so sure which is cause and which is result. Out of the tiny part of humanity that likes private flying AND can afford to, perhaps there’s only a minority that is not content with circling the village spire / showing uncle Albert where niece Agatha lives? Those that are will be happy renters, and long and much may they enjoy all that. The last minority among the minority will find their way, mostly by owning whatever and however they can afford. I mean, anyone able to pass the hurdles of gaining a PPL must have the intellectual ability to become an aircraft owner? Only lack of ambition or lack of means (money, time, …) can hold one back.
PS here and elsewhere, there is a gentle confusion between general aviation and private flying
Practical GA is somewhat different tribes:
1. Annex 2 Tailwheel types flown by time rich pilots (semi guilty as charged)
2. IFR SEP medium time rich pilots (TB20/21, Mooney, Bonanza, 210, PA24)
3. Renters time poor (PA28, 172)
4. Legacy twin diehards who don’t buy into a DA42/SR22 (PA30/39, -34, -23, -31, 310, 55/58)
5. Turbine (Jetprop, Meridian, TBM, PC12, King Air, Mustang)
6. Minority stand out (Warbirds, Twin Beech, MU-2, Marchetti)
7. See the light (SR22, DA42, DA40, T182T)
8. Bush brigade (180/185, Super Cub, Maule, Beaver)
9. RV
Robert, that pretty much sums pilots up! 
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
But I am not so sure which is cause and which is result.
I guess, retning is a sort of bad circle that it requires some effort to get out of. It also requires a different goal than just having a PPL and the ability to fly a trip every now and then.
@RobertL18C – I see myself in No. 1, 3, 7 & 8, and would also like to be in 4&5. Does that mean I have an identity problem? 
No it just means you have to work longer hours (but not at the expense of spending less time on EuroGA)
dublinpilot wrote:
Most renters just can’t afford that sort of thing. If I want to go further, then the costs really add up. the €3.5k it would cost me for a return trip to Vienna, just can’t be justified/afforded.The solution of course is to get to pilots together. One flies out, and the other back, each paying for the flight that they make/log. Suddenly that cost is only €550, and little more easily afforded by dropping a few burger runs in favour of a bigger trip.
It’s not just the cost, either:
and all the “busywork” planning can soon add up to end up taking more time than the actual route planning. None of the “busywork” planning is at all fun.
I would have given up flying long ago if I didn’t have an aircraft I can just get in and go.
With regard to Robert L18C’s categories… I suggest there is an obvious solution (which I hope to implement one day!). It is probably best if you own your own hangar and then you and 1/2 dozen of your closest pilot friends can share a syndicate with one of each type of aircraft!
If this doesn’t pan out I will likely just own one outright and have shares in all the other’s as necessary :-). There are too many planes and not enough time!
