People are Weird (plane people, that is…)
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This guest post is from Matthew Hood, a seasoned commercial pilot and General Aviation advocate. He has many great stories to share, and we look forward to more! He is also a proud owner of a Luscombe! Please sit back and enjoy…. :
Years ago I sat in on a symposium at Oshkosh. The talk was given by John and Martha King from King Schools. In his talk, John pointed out that airplane people are “weird”. His point was that the time and money airplane people pour into our hobby / lifestyle can be pretty steep and sometimes inexplicable to outsiders.
Imagine someday washing your airplane and a kid passing by on a bicycle compliments your pride and joy. After visiting, the young person asks how he/she too can become a pilot and fly such a neat airplane like yours. Well lets see….medical, written, and a check ride. Well that’s not so bad. Same requirements we had growing up. Or is it?
One of the things I really enjoy about flying charter is that I routinely go to airports I have never been to. I get to meet new people in aviation daily. I will pull up to the FBO and usually have a little time to visit with the line guys and FBO folks. The conversations I’m hearing are pretty scary for the future of general aviation.
I over heard a quote of $11,000 for a private pilots certificate. I recently had another young person tell me that a 4 year degree with flight ratings from one of the more well known schools in FL runs about $250,000. The barriers of entry are becoming exceedingly high! From that environment, rare is the new CFI who knows or even cares about airplanes without glass cockpits. While this newly minted CFI has his heart on a career (and that’s fine), he may also be the first point of contact for John Q Public’s intro to aviation. The odds of the new private pilot coming from glass 172s into fabric, tailwheel, or round power airplanes are significantly smaller.
John King was right! We are weird. You don’t trip and fall then start flying airplanes, It requires time and lots of money. But I want lots more weird people! I want to take what I have been allowed to enjoy about general aviation and share that with others. That mission should be important to each one of us. Anytime you give a ride, keep your membership to EAA / AOPA, or offer an encouraging word to a future pilot, you are casting your vote. You are voting in favor of a future generation who will keep our passion for airplanes alive.
In the land of ipad’s, online videos, and video games I want to add Luscombe time to a young person’s decision of how to spend their afternoon.
-Matthew Hood
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airplane people are definitely weird! I’m proud and happy to be one.
I too am proud of my weirdness. It is an honor to be an avgeek and be amongst some of the most stellar people I know. There are a lot of struggles ahead for general aviation, but we can change that tide if we all work together to educate people because that is one of the biggest problems. People assume the only way to fly is by buying a $100,000 plane and spending tens of thousands on lessons. In reality there is a much less glamorous way to fly that is actually a lot more fun in many ways, people just don’t know about it.
On a side note, if you are in Arkansas anytime in the next couple of months with that beautiful plane I would be happy to go for a ride.
I try to surround myself as much as possible in my life. I am a student pilot, mostly a saving money sort of deal right now. I have a logbook endorcement right now from a ground school, but I am taking another introduction to aviation course that is offered for free just to keep my mind geared and the mind magnetos running well, as you would for a real plane. I want to keep my eyes towards the sky, and want to go towards a career in this field. I whole heartily realize what I am putting myself into right now and expect the hit my bank account is going to take, but this is my dream, the dream I have had since I was 5 years old.
You can always make more money to fill in the void – someday you may make money at a faster rate than now, therefor don’t lose track of your goals let them come first – if you think of the value the $5-10k of training will bring you over the next 50 years of your live, compared to waiting 20 years and spending $20k (inflation) to enjoy 30 years of flying – see my point? You’re way better off to do it now! Keep pushing, you’ll do great and never regret a moment or a dime you spend!