The day is soon coming to the aviation community that air shows will need to be drastically limited. The allocation of an increasingly precious commodity can no longer be used for entertainment. Global oil production is nearing its peak. Oil is a finite resource and cannot be economically pumped from the ground forever. The transition from oil to new energy sources is here, like it or not. Sometime in the next four to 14 years, peak oil will occur. Consumers of huge amounts of oil like air shows can no longer be allowed access to our most prized form of energy.
I call on the aviation community to begin the process of scaling back air shows in North America and the world.
Car racing, monster trucks and all other forms of internal combustion engine entertainment we have come to enjoy over the past 100 years are entering their twilight years. Their costs are heading for the ceiling and will be uneconomical due to increasing fuel costs not just for the businesses, but also the fans.
The low cost of oil party is coming to an end and we will be waking up to a very big headache. Our nation will need a head start to transform our energy needs from oil to whatever is going to replace it. But first we must start to cut back and air shows are a place to start. Let’s have only two or three for the nation and let cities bid on them like the Olympics.
I can no longer watch an air show as entertainment. I see it as a huge waste of energy that our republic will need to protect itself in the near future. Our military will need that fuel, our farmers will need that fuel, all of us will need that fuel to get ready for the transformation to a new energy form that is coming.
The days of “keep ’em flying” are coming to an end as fuel cost will be prohibitively high.
Alan Sinsel
Portland, Ore.