AccessFlight
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2013
- Messages
- 19
- Display Name
Display name:
Collaborative
Hello Pilots of America!
I need your help.
My UID is AccessFlight and I'm not yet a pilot - however, I plan to change all of that in the near future. Though not yet a pilot, I have been in and around aviation and aerospace all my life practically. Since age 8, I knew that I wanted to be a pilot, but at age 45, I still have not me that challenge for a whole host of various reasons - but I've always been very close to aviation down through the years in many different ways. So, General Aviation is not new to me - I'm just not a pilot at this time - though my goals are Private through Jet Type Rating at some point in the near future.
The reason for my post is very clear and summed up in one word: Revolution.
It is my belief that it is now time for a Social Revolution in GA across America and I want to foster that revolution right here and right now. What kind of revolution? It is simple: Growing the GA Pilot Community one human being at a time - socially.
How? Well, that's what I want to talk about.
All the experts say that GA is dying a slow death. There is no doubt that the increased costs of flying have placed GA in at least a holding pattern in terms of growth - and many conclude that the increased costs over the years are one of the primary culprits in the slow death of GA across the country. I am told that in Europe, GA costs its participants 3-4 times what it costs to maintain a flying routine here in the United States.
I am also told that traditional flight training is another area of culpability associated with the degradation of the pilot population in the U.S. and that GA Student Pilot completion rates are the Number #1 causation (catastrophe) connected to the lack of both pilot retention and growth within the GA Pilot Community.
Fortunately, I'm not here to talk about failures and failings - there's enough of that going on already. I'm here to talk about how to change directions and usher in a new Revolutionary Era in General Aviation by extending and expanding the pilot base and by retaining GA pilots and thus growing the entire community and its associated industry. You could say that I'm a man on a mission and that mission is total Revolution with the GA Community.
It is revolution or die. And, the death of GA is not what I want to see happen here in the United States of America.
Ok- with that understood, here's what I need. Every industry and every major community in the world has a list of key players who are seen and respected as "Pillars of the Community." Those are the names I want. I want to know who YOU think they are and why. The names that I know are as follows (in no particular order):
AOPA - Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (Flight Training Magazine)
EAA - Experimental Aircraft Association
NBAA - National Business Aviation Association
Cessna Aircraft Company
Piper Aircraft Incorporated
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation
Lancair International Incorporated
Garmin Aviation Ltd.
Avidyne Corporation
Continental Motors Inc.
Textron/Lycoming/Avco Corporation
Jeppesen/Boeing Co.
Sportsman's Market, Inc. - Sporty's
Flying Magazine - Bonnier Corporation
Pilot Magazine, LLC.
Add Your "Pillar" Here
Please add any additional names that I have missed to the list. When you add a name to this list, the question I want you to ask yourself is: What would GA look like without this entities involvement and does this entity truly add something of value to the foundation of the community and the industry? If you don't perceive one of the above to be a "Pillar of the community," please say why you feel that way.
History is of no value at all, if we fail to learn from what it teaches. Looking-up the word "revolution" in the dictionary, I found the following:
rev·o·lu·tion [rev-uh-loo-shuh n] - a Noun
- overthrow
- repudiation
- radical change
- pervasive change
- sudden change
- complete change
- resetting of a starting point
- turning from
Why is GA perceived to be failing in the eyes of many? Why is the GA pilot base said to be shrinking? Why did I (personally) not finish my private pilot flight training when I was 19 years old, after having paid for and taken three (3) lessons at my local airport? Why are more GA airports closing every single year? Why is at least one (1) GA airport not being built or planned somewhere in the U.S. every other year?
In my opinion, the answer is because there has been no 'overthrow' in the mindset that removes the tie-down from GA and prevents it from being shackled to the ground. There has been no 'repudiation' of the old ways of doing things, that causes GA to lag behind a healthy growth curve. There has been no 'radical change' put forth that makes GA appealing to the general public. There has been very little systemic 'pervasive change' in the methodologies used to attract new talent into the world of GA.
There has been no 'sudden change' in the direction and/or the momentum of GA that would draw it favorably to the average person without a pilots license, but with the desire to learn how to fly. There has been no sustained 'complete' change in the way the GA Community goes about winning the hearts and minds of those not yet in the Community. There has been very little creative and outside the box thinking when it comes to 'resetting the starting point' for how GA grows its pilot base and there has been no genuine 'turning from' the old ways of making GA more accessible and affordable to the broader public.
How does GA go about attracting new pilots and retaining them? It organizes an air show or some other kind of event at the local airport, invites all of the "Pillars of the Community" to attend where everybody pitches a tent (literally) and then waits for the general public to arrive at its doorstep with a desire to want to learn how to fly. That's so yesterday. No wonder that GA has not grown in over 30 plus years.
There's a much better way and a much brighter future ahead for GA.
My goal is to organize a National General Aviation Collaborative (NGAC) that approaches the concept of growing the pilot community in ways that we've never seen before in the United States of America and it includes six (6) changes in the way GA currently approaches the general public:
1) A new paradigm for introducing GA to the general public.
2) Stimulating the natural desire to want to fly within the general public having that propensity.
3) Clearly articulating the next steps required for making flight an attainable lifestyle choice for the general public.
4) Providing broad spectrum and highly diverse access to aircraft, instructors and flexible training facilities.
5) Offering new flexible flight training financing with ease of access and comfortable terms.
6) Providing a new, warm and inviting atmosphere (Esprit de corps) for new pilots to plug-into, as they begin to explore their new GA lifestyle with Community based "infrastructures" (destinations) throughout the United States.
I'm talking about building something that quite frankly has never been done before in GA. Not just for GA's survival, but for the actual new growth and new development of the entire GA Community and to the benefit of all involved, no matter what level of involvement. I'm talking about a much needed Revolution in the way we think about growing and maintaining our GA Community. I'm talking about building a real Nation Wide Community, maybe for the first time in our country's history.
It is my belief that this cannot and will not be done absent the grass roots growth and retainment of the entire GA Pilot population. My strategy for increasing the size of that population is step number one.
Please add to the list of "Pillars" above.
Thanks!
I need your help.
My UID is AccessFlight and I'm not yet a pilot - however, I plan to change all of that in the near future. Though not yet a pilot, I have been in and around aviation and aerospace all my life practically. Since age 8, I knew that I wanted to be a pilot, but at age 45, I still have not me that challenge for a whole host of various reasons - but I've always been very close to aviation down through the years in many different ways. So, General Aviation is not new to me - I'm just not a pilot at this time - though my goals are Private through Jet Type Rating at some point in the near future.
The reason for my post is very clear and summed up in one word: Revolution.
It is my belief that it is now time for a Social Revolution in GA across America and I want to foster that revolution right here and right now. What kind of revolution? It is simple: Growing the GA Pilot Community one human being at a time - socially.
How? Well, that's what I want to talk about.
All the experts say that GA is dying a slow death. There is no doubt that the increased costs of flying have placed GA in at least a holding pattern in terms of growth - and many conclude that the increased costs over the years are one of the primary culprits in the slow death of GA across the country. I am told that in Europe, GA costs its participants 3-4 times what it costs to maintain a flying routine here in the United States.
I am also told that traditional flight training is another area of culpability associated with the degradation of the pilot population in the U.S. and that GA Student Pilot completion rates are the Number #1 causation (catastrophe) connected to the lack of both pilot retention and growth within the GA Pilot Community.
Fortunately, I'm not here to talk about failures and failings - there's enough of that going on already. I'm here to talk about how to change directions and usher in a new Revolutionary Era in General Aviation by extending and expanding the pilot base and by retaining GA pilots and thus growing the entire community and its associated industry. You could say that I'm a man on a mission and that mission is total Revolution with the GA Community.
It is revolution or die. And, the death of GA is not what I want to see happen here in the United States of America.
Ok- with that understood, here's what I need. Every industry and every major community in the world has a list of key players who are seen and respected as "Pillars of the Community." Those are the names I want. I want to know who YOU think they are and why. The names that I know are as follows (in no particular order):
AOPA - Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (Flight Training Magazine)
EAA - Experimental Aircraft Association
NBAA - National Business Aviation Association
Cessna Aircraft Company
Piper Aircraft Incorporated
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation
Lancair International Incorporated
Garmin Aviation Ltd.
Avidyne Corporation
Continental Motors Inc.
Textron/Lycoming/Avco Corporation
Jeppesen/Boeing Co.
Sportsman's Market, Inc. - Sporty's
Flying Magazine - Bonnier Corporation
Pilot Magazine, LLC.
Add Your "Pillar" Here
Please add any additional names that I have missed to the list. When you add a name to this list, the question I want you to ask yourself is: What would GA look like without this entities involvement and does this entity truly add something of value to the foundation of the community and the industry? If you don't perceive one of the above to be a "Pillar of the community," please say why you feel that way.
History is of no value at all, if we fail to learn from what it teaches. Looking-up the word "revolution" in the dictionary, I found the following:
rev·o·lu·tion [rev-uh-loo-shuh n] - a Noun
- overthrow
- repudiation
- radical change
- pervasive change
- sudden change
- complete change
- resetting of a starting point
- turning from
Why is GA perceived to be failing in the eyes of many? Why is the GA pilot base said to be shrinking? Why did I (personally) not finish my private pilot flight training when I was 19 years old, after having paid for and taken three (3) lessons at my local airport? Why are more GA airports closing every single year? Why is at least one (1) GA airport not being built or planned somewhere in the U.S. every other year?
In my opinion, the answer is because there has been no 'overthrow' in the mindset that removes the tie-down from GA and prevents it from being shackled to the ground. There has been no 'repudiation' of the old ways of doing things, that causes GA to lag behind a healthy growth curve. There has been no 'radical change' put forth that makes GA appealing to the general public. There has been very little systemic 'pervasive change' in the methodologies used to attract new talent into the world of GA.
There has been no 'sudden change' in the direction and/or the momentum of GA that would draw it favorably to the average person without a pilots license, but with the desire to learn how to fly. There has been no sustained 'complete' change in the way the GA Community goes about winning the hearts and minds of those not yet in the Community. There has been very little creative and outside the box thinking when it comes to 'resetting the starting point' for how GA grows its pilot base and there has been no genuine 'turning from' the old ways of making GA more accessible and affordable to the broader public.
How does GA go about attracting new pilots and retaining them? It organizes an air show or some other kind of event at the local airport, invites all of the "Pillars of the Community" to attend where everybody pitches a tent (literally) and then waits for the general public to arrive at its doorstep with a desire to want to learn how to fly. That's so yesterday. No wonder that GA has not grown in over 30 plus years.
There's a much better way and a much brighter future ahead for GA.
My goal is to organize a National General Aviation Collaborative (NGAC) that approaches the concept of growing the pilot community in ways that we've never seen before in the United States of America and it includes six (6) changes in the way GA currently approaches the general public:
1) A new paradigm for introducing GA to the general public.
2) Stimulating the natural desire to want to fly within the general public having that propensity.
3) Clearly articulating the next steps required for making flight an attainable lifestyle choice for the general public.
4) Providing broad spectrum and highly diverse access to aircraft, instructors and flexible training facilities.
5) Offering new flexible flight training financing with ease of access and comfortable terms.
6) Providing a new, warm and inviting atmosphere (Esprit de corps) for new pilots to plug-into, as they begin to explore their new GA lifestyle with Community based "infrastructures" (destinations) throughout the United States.
I'm talking about building something that quite frankly has never been done before in GA. Not just for GA's survival, but for the actual new growth and new development of the entire GA Community and to the benefit of all involved, no matter what level of involvement. I'm talking about a much needed Revolution in the way we think about growing and maintaining our GA Community. I'm talking about building a real Nation Wide Community, maybe for the first time in our country's history.
It is my belief that this cannot and will not be done absent the grass roots growth and retainment of the entire GA Pilot population. My strategy for increasing the size of that population is step number one.
Please add to the list of "Pillars" above.
Thanks!
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