Worst state of affairs for Microlighting!

[pietmeyer]

Hey chap, hows the T bird coming along?

Much the same as the topic I started last year which led to the zebula trip, these are my concerns mirrored. I continually notice a drop in flying activity, driving to aeroden on saturday morning I excitedly looked up the runway expecting to see some trike wings. Not ONE. Not a single person flying microlights on the first saturday morning after the holidays ??/ Was 8.00 in the morning

Dish, why do you get there so late my boy? By then we have landed, had coffee and already on our way back to get a cold beer. Trike pilots fly early unless you are in Kwazulu Natal as those okes only get up at 10am

[Dish]

LOL PIET - Its never Sad to see the bantam in the air..... !!!

CV boet - yep, I know of those circles where what you fly makes you a man and for the record I dont enjoy that attitude at all. I think that whatever you fly and whatever you can afford is your own business. The i'm wealthier than you, look what I fly attitude needs to change. I look back with the fondest memories of our zebula trip where we had a myriad of planes and an absolute jol. the lads looked out for each other, waited if necessary and a good time was had by all. Keep snobbery out of flying I say!!

Piet my mate your 100% correct. A round of gold can set you back in excess of 600 - 700 bucks for a round. (caddie, green fees, drinks, lunch and a few lost balls) - so it is relative. Hopefully we see an increase in all aspects, lets try and drive it a tad harder.
On that Note, Trevor, Gareth and Tailspin used to run a young eagles program / day where they introduced youngsters to flying and quick flips... has that happened recently. Perhaps to increase awareness we should do those again ?? Dunno lets try drive it together?

[John Boucher]

I agree Piet...

My Cheetah costs a fixed amount of R 1750 per month just to stand - (Insurance & Hangar space) and that is before it even flies....
Fuel/oil cost per hour @ R 250
Medical (PPL) R 800 per annum
Aeroclub/MISASA R660 per annum
AP R 600 per annum
Mechanical.... dunno
Recover with Trylam... R35000
Van Zyl's ..... dunno
PPL Renewal .... R 3800 (including hire & fly)
Currency fees.... dunno
ICASA.... R 48

Maybe our super duper accountant can create an accountants version spreadsheet to determine costing.... I'm too lazy

[Big-D]

Maybe our super duper accountant can create an accountants version spreadsheet to determine costing.... I'm too lazy

I did this calculation a few years ago - Sent the Excel sheet to Darkhelmet, he ignored me for a wile afterwards

Ignorance is bliss chaps Dunno what my GT costs me - Not gonna calculate it either as the joy it gives cannot be measured

One thing I can tell you is the more you fly the less your hourly costs become - Fixed costs remain whether you fly 20 or 200 hours a year - You make it cheaper by flying alot yeah right

D

[John Boucher]

e-mail me your version D or put it on for others? pretty please....

[Big-D]

I will see if I can find it tonight Johno and send to you

[Bundy]

I also started a thread about this a few months ago....just too lazy to go find it now.

$$$$$$$....the lack thereof being without doubt the biggest reason for this slump. We (some of us) just do not have as much expendible income as we did a few years back.
I see it in my own business. Four years ago I employed 11 full time staff, doing residential builds and alterations. When the NCA came into effect, at first things were ok....then the credit crunch really hit hard. We would have another two or three projects lined up before we completed the build we were currently busy with and slowly things came down to one or two...then one....up to a point where we finished one build and had to wait a month or two before the next one. The overheads killed me...

I had to retrench (over time) over 75% of my workforce just to stay alive. Nowdays we run a very small Maintenance business and I can tell you its tough...real tough out there now. My main supplier has told me he has seen over 30% of his customers go belly up in the last 18 months! I am just one example...there are MANY more. I am actually very grateful I've managed to hang around.

I dont think the cost of training is a problem. The running cost on a trainer trike (keep in mind the extra wear and tear on the airframe) is about R150 to R200 an hour dry. The schools are all charging around R500 to R650 an hour dual. So how much are they really making out of us? Hell everyone needs to somehow earn a living. I have however, having stood up for them here, recently been the "victim" of an unnamed CFI who really tried to rip me off!

These financial woes that most of us are facing have a very negative effect on us with regards to flying that is difficult to measure. I believe this is why the airfields and hangers are not as busy as they used to be....serious lack of motivation brought on by this financial depression.

Sad to see, but all we can do is hang on and try our best to keep the guys in the air and the "gees" alive. Things can surely not carry on like this forever?

[skybound®]

We seem to be reversing the trend just a little, and our activity is increasing - albeit just a bit. Main thing is it is moving in the correct direction.

The scary thing is that a few of us started flying together and we were the youngest in the club at about 25. Now almost twenty years on, and we are still the youngest But that does not bode well for continuity. We have very few youngsters joining the sport in our area.

[Tailspin]

LOL PIET - Its never Sad to see the bantam in the air..... !!!
On that Note, Trevor, Gareth and Tailspin used to run a young eagles program / day where they introduced youngsters to flying and quick flips... has that happened recently. Perhaps to increase awareness we should do those again ?? Dunno lets try drive it together?

Hi Dish

Yea we used to do that alot but when the politics kinda starts to scratch then it gets to be a problem. We used to do it under the banner of he EAA but not sure how that is working anymore. Would still do it with a Smile though

[Alpha]

I did this calculation a few years ago - Sent the Excel sheet to Darkhelmet, he ignored me for a wile afterwards

D

With Dave...everything is calculated...even when he flies "by chance" in front of you and you eat his propwash...



P.S I have the "by chance" video to prove it...

Hellooooo Dave my booooi....was great flying with you mate...looking forward to the next one...

[Rudix]

It is really sad to hear this, I do agree that it must be mostly financial, we can only hope that things get better soon.

Having said that my local field, Rhino Park is still humming. I have been hangering there since 2007 and I cannot say we have really had a decline in activity. As an example this past Saturday (7 Jan) I tried to sneak in an early flight to get the feel of a new plane. By the time I taxied out (around 7am) there were 3-4 trikes in the air, a Jabbi or 2 and a few other planes I could hear in the air. When I landed things were hectic, plenty planes in the circuit, at least 4 trikes lining up, 8-10 fixed wing planes, Trikes and Gyros outside getting ready to fly. Wonderful!!!!

I am sometimes amazed at how well our wide variety of planes share the field, you have trikes at 45-60 mph in the same circuit as 100 mph Jabbies and the odd 150+mph "hot-ship". Once on the ground you end up spending HOURS chatting to everyone as we are one big family, there is no better way to spend a Saturday.

Both schools, fixed wing and Trike, seem to be doing well with a constant stream of new students, but I am sure it could be even better.....

Lets hope things pick up soon at the other, quieter, fields!

Fly safe,
Rudi

[Madman]

I did this calculation a few years ago - Sent the Excel sheet to Darkhelmet, he ignored me for a wile afterwards

D

With Dave...everything is calculated...even when he flies "by chance" in front of you and you eat his propwash...



P.S I have the "by chance" video to prove it...

Hellooooo Dave my booooi....was great flying with you mate...looking forward to the next one...

Hey Propwash disher and Propwash Eater

I am the eye witness on this one..I watched Dave dish and Alpha eat

Looking forward to another great fly away..hopefully soon

What I realised when it comes to flying...people always tend to blame work or there are always reason's that people do not fly...

If times are bad and you had a R300 for the month..that is still at least 2.5 hours of flying..but that does not happen...

I used to drive to Potchefstroom and do one skydive and dop,talk shait with the guys...

At Circus there is the first Sat of the month braai that happens..that was always fun..I think all the club/airfields should have something of the sort just to keep the vibe alive..

Hey Dish,I landed with a Pax and two other Kroon pilots at Aeroden last Monday..weather was awesome..

Let's do something about this..I am game for whatever suggestions get thrown in the box

Safe Landing
Madman "Coming to you live from 6000ft..where we like to get high "

[James Bentley]

I have been wanting to add my bit to this thread started by Bundy for a while now so here goes…

There is no doubt that times are tough but there are many things which compete for our time and money nowadays, it just becomes easier to spend time doing other things and for the younger generation which expect things to happen instantly, flying is not an attractive option. Only the very enthusiastic and committed will pursue the dream, there are also a lot of negative perceptions surrounding the abundance of regulations and this does chase people away. It is a lack of understanding as there is a requirement for this as it does bring necessary controls, but we need to guard against unnecessary over regulation. We still enjoy a great deal of freedom of flight in this country and it is our duty to protect it, try flying in some parts of Europe and see what it is like.

Unfortunately too there is not enough visible flying to encourage the general public to become interested, as a young boy I can remember seeing lots and lots of aircraft in the sky almost every day, and I grew up out in the sticks, this was in the 60’s and 70’s. The air force was very active with wonderful noisy aircraft and the general public was not bothered by it at all, today we are all very noise sensitive and a low flying aircraft is considered a pest. How sad…

It is up to us to change this, tell everybody you know how great it is to fly, what fun you have and invite them to join you and maybe some of the discarded aircraft lying about in hangars will fly again with a new owner. Be positive about your flying and the enthusiasm will draw old pilots back and encourage new ones to join us.

See you all at Tedderfield on the 4th

James

[Rudix]

I have been wanting to add my bit to this thread started by Bundy for a while now so here goes…

There is no doubt that times are tough but there are many things which compete for our time and money nowadays, it just becomes easier to spend time doing other things and for the younger generation which expect things to happen instantly, flying is not an attractive option. Only the very enthusiastic and committed will pursue the dream, there are also a lot of negative perceptions surrounding the abundance of regulations and this does chase people away. It is a lack of understanding as there is a requirement for this as it does bring necessary controls, but we need to guard against unnecessary over regulation. We still enjoy a great deal of freedom of flight in this country and it is our duty to protect it, try flying in some parts of Europe and see what it is like.

Unfortunately too there is not enough visible flying to encourage the general public to become interested, as a young boy I can remember seeing lots and lots of aircraft in the sky almost every day, and I grew up out in the sticks, this was in the 60’s and 70’s. The air force was very active with wonderful noisy aircraft and the general public was not bothered by it at all, today we are all very noise sensitive and a low flying aircraft is considered a pest. How sad…

It is up to us to change this, tell everybody you know how great it is to fly, what fun you have and invite them to join you and maybe some of the discarded aircraft lying about in hangars will fly again with a new owner. Be positive about your flying and the enthusiasm will draw old pilots back and encourage new ones to join us.

See you all at Tedderfield on the 4th

James

Hi James! Hope you are well!

Perfectly said! We all need to do something to encourage more pilots to join our wonderful hobby/sport!

See you at Tedderfield on the 4th

Fly safe,
Rudi

[Bundy]

Just a small correction there James...this thread was started by Air Hog.

Doesnt really matter who started it though as its very similar to numerous ones that have tried to find a solution to the problem...

Last Month I invited a group of about 15 people, mostly family and friends to my new airfield (Microland) for a "Fly and Braai". The response was awesome and with help from Skin and Peter's, we did a few fun flips and there were many people we took up who had never flown microlights before. Since then, one of them has been e mailing me and making serious enquieries as to cost, training, maintenance etc.....he will very soon be starting his own flying dream...

We need a lot more of this type of activity at local club level in my opinion. Once there is action at an airfield, all those "long gone" pilots will slowly appear out of the woodwork and rediscover their passion.

We need monthly brekkies/braai's.... fun rally's involving pilots from different airfields and more "fun flipping" for those new to the sport.
It's so awesome to hear the "whooo hooo" through the headset from the PAX who has never experienced the open cockpit take off... The social side to things is definately lacking and needs some attention. There is nothing like "Kuiering" at the hanger with fellow pilots after a morning/afternoon jaunt.... look forward to doing so with all of you at Tedderfield