Jonathan Baron
New member
My fellow triple tail worshipers:
I don't know if this has bothered any of you, but lately AOPA has ascended the tall horse and noticed something everyone knows: the GA pilot pool is shrinking, new strudent starts have been dropping at a steady pace, and so forth. Their answer: we (that's right - us) have to do more to encourage more people to fly. We should give back to aviation. I don't know about you, but most aircraft owners have done nothing BUT give - down to the last spare cent - just to fly.
90% (more like 95) of aircraft owners cannot buy a new LSA aircraft, much less a new full featured aircraft, and the new alleged standard for avionics upgrades cost more than our own flying machines. Thus those with the greatest stake in getting more folks flying should, IMO, pay to promote GA. That's what it will take - advertising, not word of mouth among a tiny fraction of the population of the United States.
What have such promotions looked like in the past? The soft sell. Airplanes flying among fluffy clouds, crisp perfect looking actors smiling as they load up a Cessna proclaiming that "Every weekend is an adventure" if you're a pilot. Becoming a pilot costs a lot less than you think.....you know....utter crap.
If we mean to save GA from extinction, folks have to get serious. What's the point of an advertisement? To make you feel inadaquet if you don't buy the product. We need Ted and Ed - partners in a Champ - overflying a congested highway counting the luxury cars and SUVs. We need a minister giving the graveside eulogy, noting the deceased's great acccomplishments in life yet noting he was too much of a wimp to ever fly. We need our champ duo to overly an SUV stuck in the mud as they fly to a nifty destination accessible by no roads whatsoever. You get the idea.
The base price of an LSA cannot exceed 30k, period. This means spreading out the development costs. I work in computer gaming, and video game consoles MUST be sold at a loss. The real money comes after the sale when the customer plays games. The real money in GA over the long term comes by people flying.
How the heck does GA finance this? I have some ideas, but the first - real, go for the throat and the ego advertising - is easy to postulate.
How would you approach the problem of our cunning but dwindling band of aviators?
Jonathan
I don't know if this has bothered any of you, but lately AOPA has ascended the tall horse and noticed something everyone knows: the GA pilot pool is shrinking, new strudent starts have been dropping at a steady pace, and so forth. Their answer: we (that's right - us) have to do more to encourage more people to fly. We should give back to aviation. I don't know about you, but most aircraft owners have done nothing BUT give - down to the last spare cent - just to fly.
90% (more like 95) of aircraft owners cannot buy a new LSA aircraft, much less a new full featured aircraft, and the new alleged standard for avionics upgrades cost more than our own flying machines. Thus those with the greatest stake in getting more folks flying should, IMO, pay to promote GA. That's what it will take - advertising, not word of mouth among a tiny fraction of the population of the United States.
What have such promotions looked like in the past? The soft sell. Airplanes flying among fluffy clouds, crisp perfect looking actors smiling as they load up a Cessna proclaiming that "Every weekend is an adventure" if you're a pilot. Becoming a pilot costs a lot less than you think.....you know....utter crap.
If we mean to save GA from extinction, folks have to get serious. What's the point of an advertisement? To make you feel inadaquet if you don't buy the product. We need Ted and Ed - partners in a Champ - overflying a congested highway counting the luxury cars and SUVs. We need a minister giving the graveside eulogy, noting the deceased's great acccomplishments in life yet noting he was too much of a wimp to ever fly. We need our champ duo to overly an SUV stuck in the mud as they fly to a nifty destination accessible by no roads whatsoever. You get the idea.
The base price of an LSA cannot exceed 30k, period. This means spreading out the development costs. I work in computer gaming, and video game consoles MUST be sold at a loss. The real money comes after the sale when the customer plays games. The real money in GA over the long term comes by people flying.
How the heck does GA finance this? I have some ideas, but the first - real, go for the throat and the ego advertising - is easy to postulate.
How would you approach the problem of our cunning but dwindling band of aviators?
Jonathan
