Cleared for Lunching: The $100 Hamburger

Good article. I see Mr. Hennessy is flying that rare side by side seated Citabria with his son. Sigh. :rolleyes:

Does make us sound like a bunch of folks with too much money to spend. Need to increase taxes so we can stop having so much fun...:D
 
Y'know, ALL of us are required equipment to make our GA system in the US great. If there weren't airport bums, aviation enthusiasts, aircraft restorers and builders, and pilots all up and down the spectrum from the guy who's scraping every penny he can just to afford to rent a C150 all the way up to the guy who owns his own G-V... If all of those people didn't exist to support airports, volunteer, and make the airport a great place to be, well, there wouldn't be any airports left for those who actually use them for business and pump money into both the local and national economies.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Y'know, ALL of us are required equipment to make our GA system in the US great. If there weren't airport bums, aviation enthusiasts, aircraft restorers and builders, and pilots all up and down the spectrum from the guy who's scraping every penny he can just to afford to rent a C150 all the way up to the guy who owns his own G-V... If all of those people didn't exist to support airports, volunteer, and make the airport a great place to be, well, there wouldn't be any airports left for those who actually use them for business and pump money into both the local and national economies.
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Well said! Not only wouldn't there be airports, but there would be no pilots to fly the airliners or the high-powered executives!

BTW, Leslie and I have flown into Napa and eaten at Jonesy's, and concur, it IS good! Better than Final Approach at Sheboygan, WI, but it's been around a few years longer!
 
I thought it was OK... except for that "Citabria" gaffe (wince).
As for it painting GA as frivolous- well, that's the side of GA that the article addresses: fun flying. It's an article about flying as recreation, and the culture surrounding that.
I like that they mention the comparison to boating... when you think about what people sink into boating (pun intended) just to go someplace for lunch and hang out with other boaters, flying suddenly doesn't seem so bad, cost-wise. I often have to remind people of that.

There's definitely a "hey, been thinking of a new luxury-class pastime?" feel to the article, but most Times readers are not strapped for cash, so that makes sense. The writer does touch on the "grass roots" aspect, if lightly.
And there's no post-9/11 hand-wringing about security at small airports, which is refreshing...overall, I have no problem with this article.
Who knows? It may encourage some folks to come out to our "little strips" for a look-see, which isn't entirely a bad thing. :D

"Look, Muffy... I believe that's an 'airport bum'..."
"Don't take his picture, honey... they believe cameras will steal their souls..."

:D
 
rottydaddy said:
As for it painting GA as frivolous- well, that's the side of GA that the article addresses: fun flying. It's an article about flying as recreation, and the culture surrounding that.
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Exactly. I'm not sure why some people are so sensitive to being labeled frivolous. Most things you could do for recreation are in some way frivolous. For many people it is a great hobby and the reality is that you need to have some amount of disposable income to participate, just like with other hobbies. You also have to be able to justify spending that amount of money, which is not an insignificant amount to most people.

I could be irritated about the fact that they say most participants are middle-age men, but that is true, for the reasons they state and probably some others. If I was ever sensitive to the fact that I'm in the minority being female, and I don't remember it ever bothering me that much, I got over it a long time ago. On the other hand I wouldn't want the article to discourage women or young men from participating because they think they are not welcome or won't fit in.

I don't think anyone should feel the need to justify their hobby to anyone or to worry so much about how people view it. I don't think that other people really care that much. Then again, I've sometimes been accused of living in my own little world, oblivious to what other people think. :dunno:
 
Heck, don't all pilots make the $100 hamburger run now and then? I don't see anything wrong with telling folks that flying somewhere just for the fun of it (and that burger) is a good time.

Bad tip on the inverse relationship between airplane decor and food quality, though. The Spruce Goose Cafe at Port Townsend (0S9) is loaded with airplane stuff, and the food is great. Maybe the best airport pie anywhere.

Jay
 
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