Oddbean new post about login | logout mmmmm no sorry. You’re not gonna see it, or else we’d be seeing it over the last 30 years already. The industry has been coasting off the boomers all this time, and the FAA constantly tries to create new ways to keep them flying. LSAs, then basicmed, now MOSAIC are all aimed squarely at maximizing the market of boomers willing to buy this stuff and it’s never once dropped costs. All you get now is new prod shit from east europe that costs as much as a 45 yo cessna while having 1/4th the capability. Only the most ragged, wrung-out shitboxes will be sitting at the ‘affordable’ end of the market….and even then you’re looking at 6 fig to get them airworthy long enough to get your worth out of them. (gambling, you can buy and hope you can fly it long enough w/o major cost, but you gotta be willing to walk away the minute something expensive breaks, few follow through) https://i.poastcdn.org/bd17782defcbf56e93ea314f66023a2206189ad1aa829475c9f71b14d03bcec5.png
To be fair, it's not just the boomers with the money to get into planes. You would have affluent Gen X'rs and possible tech millenials who managed to secure high paying jobs without having to take student loans.
Nowhere near as many. Bang goes whatever semblance of economies of scale you had.
Sadly I think the only way to stave the continued trend towards global enslavement will be mass blood shed and casualties. No organization the likes of the WEF will ever be allowed to exist again.
I'm pretty sure people with cash to spare will sit around talking bollocks no matter what anyone does.
That’s diff, though. Boomers buy because they remember their dads, uncles, neighbors w/ airplanes. They have a totally different approach to the whole thing. I’ve sold to genX a bunch and overall they probably echo the old “vtail dr killer” thing a lot: They have money and skill but don’t respect the danger of flying unseriously, it’s a status thing, an efficiency thing, and they think they can be cavalier about it because they haven’t come to understand IRL death before. They buy brand new cirruses (bc the company is a whore and WILL sell anything to anyone) instead of used, function-first birds because they’re the rich-guy starter plane. Boomers buy a 35 yo, well sorted cessna for a particular mission, and get deep into the forum to learn all its quirks and weirdness. Gen X buy it for the write down and put 18 hours a year on it before selling it off and joining a fractional
I always wanted to fly, but it's way too expensive and I wasn't going to join the air force like my dad. I know a guy who built his own plane for little money, but even then the licensing fees are way too high.
Hop in on a buddies bonanza and take the controls mid flight
I was offered a chance like that by the guy who build his own, but I've never had a chance to ask him, and I feel kind of rude asking.
Ask old guys for a ride, they don’t fly enough and they usually like the excuse to go up for a bit. Chances are they need to just to charge the batt and get the oil flowing, but going alone is boring. If you don’t know any nearby then try out the EAA chapter, they’re very easy to tap into for some entry level stuff. They have PPL scholarship funds, too, if you luck out and find a unit w/o young people to apply for them
