There’s a change coming in general aviation. It’s starting small, but it’s growing and if you haven’t seen the effects personally, you almost certainly will in the very near future.
If you’re prone to negativity or nay-saying and have a tendency to see the dark cloud in every situation, you might want to find someplace else to be for a generation or two. Because general aviation is being revitalized in a way that is just going to amaze you.
It certainly has amazed me, and I’m an almost boundless optimist.
Roughly a month ago I wrote a piece for General Aviation News titled, “The magic number is 30 – for now.” That column detailed the phenomenal success being achieved by the Central Florida Aerospace Academy in Lakeland, Florida. They’re creating pilots at an amazing rate.
In fact their impact has been so profound that the magic number is no longer 30. Less than five weeks after that piece ran, the magic number of certificated pilots who came through that high school is now 33.
You can’t argue with success like that.
Partnerships are the key. Partnerships that can be replicated and duplicated all over the world. Certainly, your little slice of heaven could mimic this sort of groundswell of aviation activity and student achievement if you chose to. But whether that happens or not is up to you and your neighbors. Nobody else can do it. You’re the missing piece to this puzzle. You really are.
Read on. Go ahead, I dare you.
One of the partners that has been so critical to the success of the Central Florida Aerospace Academy’s student body is the Lakeland Aero Club. With a grand total of one employee, the Aero Club exists as a separate entity from the school.
Yet it is housed in a hangar that sits directly across the street. When the final bell of the day rings, students simply walk across the road to restore, maintain, and fly the aircraft they’ve been studying in school.
On my most recent visit to the club’s hangar, there was evidence of the club growing by one airplane. John and Nan Walsh of Lakeland, Florida, made the noble decision to donate their 1978 Cessna 172N to the club as a trainer and time builder. It’s a well maintained airplane that will serve the student’s needs for years to come, no doubt.
There’s just one small catch – the engine is making metal.
In some circles that might be a fatal glitch. Replacing an engine is no small thing. Whether the engine that fills the cowl is new, rebuilt or overhauled, the final price tag for the work can be substantial.
Then again, it could be an educational experience waiting to happen. In the case of the Lakeland Aero Club, they chose to look at the situation through the lens of the latter. They’re making this summer something special.
As I stood in the hangar watching the scene unfold, I was simply fascinated. Four teenagers stood in a semi-circle around an engine stand, listening with rapt attention to an older gentleman who has extensive experience with the Lycoming O-320-H2AD. The gentleman, who volunteered his time, tools, and expertise for the project, explained with great enthusiasm the strengths and weaknesses of the engine. He explained each step of the tear-down, then stepped back to let the students do the work.
I was envious. I own a Cessna 172N with a Lycoming 0-320-H2AD up front, yet by the end of this summer I have no doubt these high school kids will know that engine better than I do, or ever will.
These are well-rounded aerospace students, too. All four are pilots. In fact, two weeks from today those same four teenagers will be in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for AirVenture. They will have personally piloted a club airplane or one on loan to the club, from start to finish. Their plan is to stop along the way to offer Young Eagle rides to teens from the midwest along their route of flight. At least one of these four is making the round trip flight for the second time.
Had you been at the controls for a thousand mile cross-country when you were a teenager? I know I hadn’t. And this kid is doing it for the second time.
As I said, there is a change coming in general aviation. Young people are chomping at the bit to get involved. They want to take the controls themselves, to grab a wrench and a screwdriver to maintain the aircraft they fly. They want to be a bigger part of the aviation industry than I ever thought possible when I was their age.
The secret ingredient to this success is, of course, adult participation. You’ll note that in the story I’ve just shared the adults foster the program, they provide insight and guidance, but they do not do the work. They set their students on a course and let them run.
Sometimes they do great work. Sometimes they make mistakes. Either way, every moment of every day is an educational experience for these young men and women. Whether they are flying, doing maintenance, performing restoration work, or planning a thousand mile cross-country flight from Lakeland to Oshkosh, these kids are having a very different experience than we might imagine.
So when you hear Negative Ned and Nancy start singing the blues about how the glory days are gone, never to return – clap your hands, stomp your feet, snap your fingers…do whatever you have to do to attract their attention and let them know this in short, clear sentences: The future of general aviation is bright and filled with young, enthusiastic participants. If you haven’t found those new pilots and mechanics in your neighborhood, allow me to suggest you just haven’t looked hard enough or made your willingness to help them clear enough. But you can if you wish to.
Look what’s happening in Lakeland, Florida, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and anywhere else where the generation that came before lends a helping hand to those who are coming up behind.
We can do this. Are you with us?
Jamie,
Did you read my first paragraph? “…Well done, and good luck on your success. It is always worth a try, and those who do try should certainly be applauded and encouraged”.
Beyond that, it you seriously want to help GA, consider the following:
1) Encourage your new prospective pilots to start a campaign to support present Congressional and industry efforts to break up FAA, and completely re-constitute it from first principles, with initiation of the needed “Ops Reviews (just like the ops review of ’79)”, so as to re-write the entirely inappropriate, irrelevant, and obsolete current rules such as the ATPC pilot qual requirements, and unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive maintenance and inspection requirements, and outdated cert requirements (e.g., RTCA TF-4’s recommendations), and severely short-sighted and counterproductive 150 series AC airport design requirements that are adversely affecting GA, and
2) Have your new students strongly support splitting out of ATS as a separate ANSP entity from FAA, with more substantive and direct OVERSIGHT by airspace users, allowing for a massive reduction of ATS costs that will eventually kill GA, as well as preclude economic access, and finally
3) Perhaps better advocate that your students study and learn the lessons of history, as to how we got to the dismal place where we are right now in GA, to better give those terrific new students an idea of what they really need to do, and to advocate, if GA is to survive at all, in anything close to the form we once knew it, and are trying to preserve.
We all hope your efforts are successful, and your efforts are certainly appreciated. But do know, that in the bigger scheme of things, all the collective efforts of ERU, UND, and all the rest of the nations aviation oriented scouting programs, young eagles, and aviation high school’s aren’t going to change this “GA “Titanic’s” heading for the 2020 and equivalent icebergs by one iota, unless you start with the above items in #1 and #2.
But, regardless, we will all be cheering you on !!!
Great work Mr. Beckett,,Its people like you that put a plus in aviation and any thing else you pursue, thank you very much. I’m sure these young people will sail the sea of content without “dis” as there pilot…
Jamie,
Thank you for all of your enthusiasm and the positive articles that you write. It is a lot easier to sit back and complain about the present while reminiscing about how good things used to be (the reality is that things typically were never as good as one remembers them to be). Taking the high road sometimes requires a little more effort but the results are worth it – I applaud your efforts. No doubt these Florida high school kids will embrace aviation for the rest of their lives. Maybe they will one day own electric airplanes powered by the sun! I have been in this game for 35 years and I am thrilled at all of the advances that have been made, especially in the last 15 years. Necessity is truly the mother of invention and I for one look forward to what the world will come up with next. Funny that some pilots won’t fly with a broken attitude indicator but will navigate through life with a broken attitude.
well Jamie, i see that you are still drinking the Kool-Aid, you remind me a lot of Nero, fiddling while Rome burned.
Granted there are a few, isolated pockets of hope, but overall the GA infrastructure is in worse shape that the roads and bridges in this country, the next 5 years is going to see a drop in GA numbers, that even you will be unable to ignore while looking through those Rose Colored glasses.
Have some more Kool-Aid.
Mmmm, it is tasty, John. You ought to try some. Or better yet, lend a hand to those who are doing this sort of work. There’s little in life more gratifying than helping someone with a real desire get involved in aviation in a substantive way. It’s possible, as you can see. It’s happening. And we often have donuts to go with the Kool Aid.
Jump on in, bud. The water’s fine.
well Jamie, i have been ONBOARD, and trying for 50 years, all of that time, i have watched and listened while the industry as a whole has continuously preached to the choir, but never taken the time or the effort needed to really address our problems.
You set there in sunny Florida, wearing your rose colored glasses, drinking the Kool-Aid, eating donuts, are you sure you are not a cop, telling the world how great things are.
in 50 years, 34 airports within a 50 mile radius of me have disappeared, 11, that were hotbeds of activity are now deserted, with no FBO and no discernible activity,
I have tried to help, but it is not enough, given the massive roadblocks to success.
So John, I have to ask…What are you doing to try and keep GA alive? You seem to have given up…
What is the practical and actionable solution you seek?
As for me I don’t have one…but of course I’m new to GA having just earned my ASEL….I simply don’t have a good enough grasp on the issues the industry is facing at this time to have an educated opinion on the imminent death of GA as you and others see it. All I can say is I hope you are wrong.
I got my start in a program similar to this, half days in the shop earning college credit while learning the basics of what is taught in a&p school as well as some basic flying knowledge. I’m now an a&p, private pilot, high performance/complex with a float rating and have worked in GA since the mid 90s while in high school. Due, in large part to that good solid start from a great teacher willing to share aviation with high school students.
GA is changing without a doubt, but not all of the change is bad.
Here at SunState Aviation we do see a gradual decline of the younger generation getting into flying for only the pure enjoyment of it, but we are seeing a virtual explosion of young people who are interested in flying as a career.
No doubt, many of these young pilots will also purchase airplanes at some point for their own personal flying enjoyment. Case-in-point; I am sitting here in my office right now looking out my window at a Citabria in our hangar which is owned by one of our former students turned airline pilot (and instructed for us along the way).
I don’t care who you are; once you are bitten by the flying bug, you never get over it.
I have to ask, ManyDecadesinGA, is the negative perspective so alluring it can’t be suspended even for a moment? I’m truly shocked that anyone who has an affection for GA would refer to a high school program that’s produced 33 new pilots in a short time-frame as, “nothing.”
Respectfully, sir, or ma’am. Since you’ve chosen an anonymous username there’s no way of telling, but I prefer to be civil and polite in my correspondence. In any case, I urge you to try to see the big picture, not the narrow view you’ve chosen. This column describes a program that’s working. It’s producing pilots. It’s producing mechanics, engineering students, and administrators with lofty goals and the tools required to make those goals a reality. That’s not nothing. In fact, that’s something. It’s the definition of something. Change is taking place. Positive change that can be reproduced locally and replicated nationally.
Your personal story and mine are not the point of this piece. Our individual struggles are not pertinent to the story. Our perspective is not germane to the issue. And the issue is this – a high school is producing pilots. They’re proving it can be done. These young men and women are embarking on journey’s far longer than most GA pilots will ever make. And they’re doing it in their teens. Just imagine what these kids will be capable of as they grow and mature. The potential is astounding.
A tree has been planted, ManyDecadesinGA. It’s strong and its growing. It’s roots will spread and new sprouts will be the result. Please, for the sake of GA, the economy, and decency, don’t go out of your way to kill it simply so you can fulfill your own dark, dreary prophecy of the future. The polite thing to do would be to say, “Good for them.” The obvious thing would be to smile and say, “Thank goodness somebody is finding success in today’s market.” And the gracious thing to do would be to pick up the phone, make a call, and offer to help.
You’ve picked the least productive and most damaging route. Perhaps that is why GA is in less than pristine shape today. Maybe it’s not the prices, or the regulations, or the weather. Maybe it’s rooted in the negative attitude that causes folks like you to find the death of GA in every success story, no matter how encouraging it is.
Might I suggest you read this column again with your focus shifted from your own internalized gloom to the smiling faces and intent expression on the faces of these kids. That’s what hope looks like.
Well done, and good luck on future success. It is always worth a try, and those who do try should certainly be applauded and encouraged. Optimism in aviation is usually a desirable trait, except when it is the basis for determining things like fuel reserves, range, or takeoff performance.
That said however, …”dream on” about these kind of training efforts “revolutionizing” GA, especially if the current high cost of flying, and excessively constrained regulatory environment, and FAA’s obsolete airspace system (both PastGen, that just likely unnecessarily cost us another F-16 and C150 this week, and still poorly designed NextGen) isn’t massively also changed.
“33 new pilots” is nothing compared to the number of pilots presently exiting the aviation system yearly, or the number that we were producing back in the ’50s, when the first big GA pilot training bubble burst after WWII and the GI Bill dwindled, and the GA aircraft manufacturing bubble of ’46 to ’48 went bust.
This week alone, after a tour of 6 regional strangling airports, in the middle of the summer flying season, with great WX, there are still few if any signs of any significant small aircraft operations or pilot training life at all (outside preparing for the annual pilgrimage to KOSH), with the only sign of any significant GA economic activity centered at big expensive BizAv facilities such as at KBFI. So it is hard to be upbeat at this point about any re-birth of GA.