Friday, August 24, 2007

Episode #44 Open Discussion Thread

Leave your feedback, etc., about UCAP#44 as comments to this posting.

Uncontrolled Airspace #44 "One!"

4 Comments:

Anonymous Larry Ploucha said...

Well, I see there are no comments yet, so I'll start it off. I learned to fly in the Midwest in 1968. For some unknown reason, I remember it cost a total of $845, including a ground school, book, E6B, plotter, plus all the flight time in a Cessna 150. The other day, I decided to figure out what that would be equal to in 2007 dollars. It turned out to be about $4,990. I'm not really up to speed on current flight training costs for a private certificate, but I don't think it can be done for $5,000. So, one of the problems seems to be that the cost of flight training has gone up in real dollars in the last 40 years.

Larry Ploucha
Hollywood, FL

8:28 PM  
Anonymous Will Hawkins said...

You know I have not added up what I spent in the two years it took me to get my PPL and there is a reason I have not. It scars me to bad. But I know I spent well over $10,000 or, if I am lucky, close to it. However that was payed out over 2 years. So it really didn't hurt, as long as the student pilot doesn't mind taking there time.

Still, $845, $5000, or $10,000, it is still worth it. Gotta fly before you die......

8:49 AM  
Blogger DaveFlys said...

I still stand behind the idea that money is the show stopper. I know that several listeners have come up with ideas to be a "frugal pilot," and I even got some free flight time on the company's dime last week, but money is still the only thing stopping ME from getting into the left seat under the guidance of a CFI.

My father got his private pilot's license when he was a teenager, but he has not flown in probably a decade. It's not that he can't get a medical anymore, or that there aren't any airplanes available to rent; it's the cost that is stopping him.

The owner of the company I work for owns his very own Piper Navajo Chieftain. He's considering getting out of general aviation himself because of the cost associated with it.

Another friend of mine owns a Piper Malibu, and in a recent annual he had done, they had to replace the right wing leading edge boot, a $16,000 part. HELLO! A piece of rubber that costs more than a brand new car! Who has that kind of money lying around?!

Disposable income or not, this stuff is EXPENSIVE. Even on a Cessna 172, the costs are prohibitive to a very large number of people, owners and renters alike. Sure you can rent a plane and not have to worry about the maintenance, but the owners are certainly passing that cost on you. And the fuel alone are outrageous these days, even when you find a "good deal" like $4.00/gal.

I'm one of those that "gets it." I WANT to fly, I LOVE to fly. Aviation is my biggest passion. Perhaps I'm just being cynical about it, but I think it's just too expensive, at least until the kids finish college and move away.

David Allen
Melbourne, FL

10:42 AM  
Blogger DaveFlys said...

Hey Guys,

You talked about some new formats for this coming year, and I wanted to say I REALLY like it when you have guests on the show. I hope you do, in fact, have more of the same, and also more than one at a time like you mentioned. I am also excited about some of the on-location stuff you are talking about.

You have had a fantastic first year! I'm very excited about "Season Two" of the Uncontrolled Airspace Podcast! Happy Birthday, keep up the fantastic work, and don't stop talking about the weather (after all, weather is one-third of what flying is all about.)

David Allen
Melbourne, FL

3:21 PM  

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