MKSheppard wrote:Except it's 30% of the price, and gets better performance. General
Aviation is a worthless shithole that just sucks in the money from people
who have more money than brains.
So me and thousands of other aviation students who cannot go via the airforce route for various reasons, and are stuck with the only other possible (civilian) way of becoming a commercial/airline pilot to achieve a life-long dream are people who have more money than brains?
General Aviation is the
only civilian way for people like me to become pilots. It's the
only civilian gateway to becoming a professional/commercial pilot for people like me who were not fortunate enough to be endowed with the required eyesight for Air Force UPT, like Wickedpilot.
And why pay $150,000 for a new Cessna? A 30-year old, fully equipped C172 with 160hp, instrument-certified, can be purchased for $30,000. A top-of-the-line Garmin or Bendix-King navigational stack can be added for a few extra thousand. You'll still be paying more or less the same for maintenance inspection costs. And if I had to choose, I'd rather take that than a light-sport aircraft which will limit me in certain areas anyhow (more on this below). Parts replacement will take out some cash over a long term period, as will a lower fuel efficiency, however, a C172 is a great general-purpose hauler, and this is something that a light-sport category aircraft isn't designed to do.
You are comparing two different categories of aircraft, each designed for different purposes. You take a general-purpose hauler workhorse like the C172 and compare it to a high-performance light aircraft designed for pleasure flights and joy rides. And then you call the C172 a pansy.
And it's the filthy rich bastards' fault at causing this anyways. During the 1970s, there were a lot of lazy ass pilot-wannabees (who should have been shot out of the genepool, IMO) who were rich enough to purchase a new 172 or whatever but were too lazy to take
proper care of their aircraft, to front up the bills for the universally required annuals for this category of aircraft, to pay for the 100 hour inspections (a requirement depending on how the aircraft is used).
And so the inevitable happened. They started falling out of the sky. Although it's the least of what they deserved, the problem came from the many families that later sued the GA makers like Cessna for money. This brought companies like Cessna to their knees, forcing them to cancel manufacturing of their single-engine GA aircraft like the C172, or the C152, and choosing to focus on their largest twin engine pistons and their bizjets, who are bought by people who apparently still had enough brains to follow the Federal Aviation Regulations as far as maintenance went. Only in the late 1990s, after Congress passed a bill to revitalize GA and limit the liability of aircraft manufacturers, did various companies slowly wade their way in. Single Engine GA production slowly being revitalized, but it's still got a long ways to go before things get cheaper. But strides are slowly being made, if at least in the technology area, like the Cirrus SR-22, manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota.
Here's a guy that recently bought a
Cirrus SR-22.
And a driver's license is not enough to fly light-sport category aircraft. It's only an alternative to a medical certificate showing you as medically fit to fly the light-sport category of aircraft, with a sport pilots license.
You still have to get the Sport Pilot's License. 20 hours of flight time, with somewhat cheaper rates, and you're still looking at $1500 at minimum compared to $3500 minimum for a part 61 program. Needless to say, it'll most likely take you more than the minimum to get the licenses, looking at the averages.
Plus, note the restrictions on the light-sport category aircraft, like the T-51, as listed of section IV part A of
this article here.
So while aircraft like the T-51 are great new cheap airplanes, they're not for the people who need aircraft like Cessnas. Plus, this category of aircraft cannot be used as a gateway for getting the higher licenses, such as the Commercial Pilot's License, or a Multi-Engine rating. They're destined for a niche market which the manufacturers hope will expand significantly.
Now, what gets me curious is your claim that GA is a "shithole". Could you please elaborate on that?
Also, what is this "lot of chickenshit" that the FAA makes up?
For a little more money anyone could arm that P-51 and shoot down Cessanas like flies.
