doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (09/09/85)
Burt Rutan's departure from the kit-plane business casts more doubt on
the notion that what General Aviation needs to pull out of its slump
is improved, state-of-the-art technology.
Technology alone will not bring about GA's recovery. The GA business
community has created its own problem by universally courting the few
pilots with fat wallets and a desire/need to travel, while spurning the
hordes of pilots and would-be pilots who can't afford the luxury of
"utilitarian" planes but would be happy to spend what little they _can_
afford just for the thrill of "flying like a bird".
Low-priced, low-profit operations are totally dependent upon volume.
It's awfully hard for a GA business to build volume when every magazine
article and advertisement insists that LORAN is a must-have item. When
AOPA Pilot editor Ed Tripp complains in his editorial that some people
still have the mistaken notion that pilots fly for personal amusement.
When Aviation Consumer takes pot-shots at airport managements for
allowing people to wander around the tie-downs admiring the airplanes.
GA needs to re-establish its customer base: the scads of weekend pilots
who would fly just for the heck of it. But I'm not holding my breath...
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Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {calcom1,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug