Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog
Looking on their site, I see that you are right.skypirate88 wrote:As mentioned above, Brampton is hosting our open house this month, but just to correct the date it will be this Sunday
Sorry IFP I'm going to dispute this, largely for the sake of arguement, but also because I'd like to see some of these things increase in popularity and if some people read what I have to say - which I'm aware is a very small ammount - and perhaps act upon it, well then I've done my part.iflyforpie wrote: I blame the decline of these events on a bunch of things.
It has, but so has the availability of it, and in my opinion comparitavely it hasn't become prohibitively expensive. From my point of view the school has doubled its demand in the last ten years and most of it in the last five. The ammount of students I have who own their own aircraft has went up drastically. The activity of these aircraft has increased over that time tenfold. If flying really was "too expensive" I'd be expecting to see dropping numbers. Lots of these people though simply don't participate in what I would term the "flying community". Flying it would seem has become so accessable, people no longer feel the need to group up to get their fix. Many flying clubs after all spawned originally to make flying more affordable amongst the group, newer pilots today are increasingly insular. Here's a good example: In the last ten years there have also been 5 new private runways that have come into being within 30 miles of my home field, though I see these pilots flying frequently, I rarely see them in person. Of all of those runways, only one shares his runway with another owner. These guys are out there doing there thing and would be a big boon to the increase of general aviation in the area, except they have no interest in being a part of any group. Most of them indeed have went through the expense of making their own runway as to not be hassled by any other aviators.1) The cost of flying has gone up.
To some degree yes, but that would conflict with the above, people are getting out there and flying. I blame this on the advent of cel phones and the me first attitude so prevalent these days. Everyone has time - in spite of what they would have you believe - but they can't be bothered to organize that time with someone else, let alone a group of people. If it can't be accomplished by a few text messages and a quick call on the phone, it ain't done anymore. People used to want to get together and do stuff, mainly because that was their only access to those things - I can remember one of the big things that used to happen at meetings of flying people was a big exchange of reading material, the latest magazines or books, something that doesn't happen anymore, no need, everyone has the internet. Because everyone can get an aviation fix so easily, they no longer submit to a group consensus as to an activity, just to get in on it.
2) Nobody has the time anymore.
This I will agree with as there needs to be some new blood introduced to this area. Part of the problem is the young people themselves. Once again, aviation is something easy for them to access. I rode my bicycle to the local airport when I was a kid, how many do this these days? I've been incredibly disappointed with the air cadets these days as some of the squadrons seem to being used as a babysitting service by the parents - hardly a good introduction to aviation. I've made efforts to support some of the initiatives to get kids a taste of it, but the lack of participation is uninspiring. The most enthusiastic groups are the ones of preschoolers - I do aerodrome tours and other things for schools for free.3) The lack of young people being introduced to these events.
Once again I'll agree, but this has a lot to do with the lack of support from the aviation community as a whole. Every one complains when an aerodrome closes, when someone stops selling fuel, when rentals are cut off when a service is discontinued. We used to have a 152 for rent for instance, but it flew so infrequently we sold it and replaced it with a 172. The complaints were unending - but the fact remains that it wasn't used when it was available. People don't know what they've got until its gone.4) The unavailability, expense, or decline of facilities that make these events possible.
Here, we are bounded by mountains and water and the US border. 
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