Indeed, we're quibbling over the details, but I think its important to pinpoint specifically where more effort can be made.Tom H wrote: We agree to an extent:
I would say that those who are interested, are possibly interested from an early age, maybe from when they first are cognizant of an airplane flying overhead. I can't even remember how far back I knew it was something I was interested in, and You're talking to someone who grew up with black and white TV and not a lot of easy access to info besides the school library. You know, being po' and all.How do they know they are really interested if they are not exposed to it other than an idea and glossy magazines...
Much like the Classic Car/Muscle Car/Hot Rod audience they hit...the phone book and the web.
But there they find multiple shops, locally, clubs, websites and places they can compare etc.
Aviation they get the flight schools.
In the old days I would have agreed with you, but now the access to iformation is huge if one even takes a few minutes with the google. Yes the flight schools are the main gateway, but there's lots of other info out there if you don't stop at the first one in the list. Even if you end up on a FTU website - which in most cases are notoriously awful and uninformative - you'll probably come across the phrase of "Transport Canada approved" or "Transport Canada Standards" or something similar. Which of course should lead you down the path to actually check with TC - which few shoppers do given my experience.
But besides that there's also the large groups which are aviation related: COPA, EAA, AOPA, RAA, and that's not an exaustive list which also post their own information on flying.
But even besides that there's this thing called youtube which it would be hard to imagine no one is unfamiliar with these days where some pretty simple search terms can come up with a gargantuan amount of information - not all of it correct, but lots of stuff that should open ones eyes to the grander scheme of possibility that is aviation as a whole. Only the least imaginative couldn't see something there that would be something they'd want if they have even the least inclination of aviation in their personal make up.
Again, I would debate on whether there's a lack of information. Anyone with access to the internets can find a lot of info, and like shows about cars - which admittedly are greater in number - there are shows about airplanes and flying - in fact way more than there used to be. Though perhaps we need a new "Top Gun" for this generation.Or lack of knowledge and information...again compare to Classic Car/Muscle Car/Hot Rod audience.
They know they want a Rod...they have seen them, seen TV shows about them, gone to car shows and talked to owner builders...they have a ton of information before getting addicted comapred to rec aviation.
I will agree that work needs to be made here, but I would debate whether its any more less familiar than anything else to the neophyte. Pick any other activity that you've never done before and are you any more familiar with it?Activities they are familiar with...aviation isn't one of them anymore and that needs rebuilt.
Lack of basic knowledge is right, but I wouldn't say customer service is the breaking factor, in fact in most cases with flying I've had nothing but good customer service, when compared to any of the other things I do. My god, if poor customer service detered people from doing things they like no one would ride motorcycles. I've went through five different shops in Calgary before I found one I liked to deal with. Besides, its also been my long experience that when it comes to aviation, people will stick with a place that gives them bad service, in some cases surprisingly so.In my opinion...Part of the perception is the "race to the bottom with airlines", part of it is (often) poor customer service and a big piece is the complete lack of basic knowledge.
My main point in this bit though is the expectation that flying be cheap, not reasonable, cheap. Case in point, there seems to be the myth/rumor out that chartering little airplanes is cheap - cheaper than Westjet, so we regularly get calls about flights to Vegas (the favorite destination of people who want cheap airfare it seems) of course they're always shocked. Pilots don't help, isn't everyone's favorite story about how little it cost them to get their license compared to today? Of course there's little perspective on those. When I started, dual on a 172 was $85/hour, but then I was also earning the high end wage of $7/ hour and gas was 20 cents a litre to fill my K-Car.
None the less there is the constant expectation that instructors instruct as a hobby so don't need to be paid and that learning to fly runs on a volunteer type effort. Personally I've always found its a bad form for a flying club to pose as a club yet be run like a school which should be a business, since it gives people some wrong impressions out of the gate. Not that there's anything wrong with flying clubs - and there needs to be more of them, some clubs are hardly clubs and give people the wrong impression right out of the gate. Just my opinion.