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Pilot Zone / Remember when the "Learn to Fly Here" signs meant something?
« on: July 07, 2016, 03:56:05 PM »
And we wonder why the pilot population is falling.
I'm in Scottsbluff, in far western Nebraska (it's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here) while my daughter takes two days of continuing education in bovine ultrasound. 🐄. Don't ask.
Anyway, I go to the the local airport, KBFF, Western Nebraska Regional airport. It's a Class E airport with commercial service, sitting at 3,967' MSL with two 8,000 x 150 runways. I thought it would be fun to rent an airplane and take a flight to see from the sky the beautiful, rugged scenery that our settlers saw from the ground when they traveled the Oregon Trail, which traveled through two passes in this area. Plus, I would like the challenge of a high density altitude flight. Did I mention it's hot here?
So I go to the airport and see the familiar green "Learn to Fly Here" signs that we have seen for years at most airports, and which actually used to mean something. The sign was in front of a hangar with a sign for Valley Airways. Cool! This should be fun.
The doors were dead bolted. There was a paper sign taped to the door that said that Valley Airways' FBO is now in the North Side of the terminal building. OK, they moved up! Cool.
I finally find the FBO on the West Side, not the North Side of the terminal building (idiots), and see Jethro (I don't know his name, but Jethro seems to fit) sitting behind a desk. There's a pilot lounge, Wx terminals to get weather, couches, and much of what you would expect to see. Except there is nothing about piston GA aircraft.
I tell Jethro what I would like to do, and he says he "thinks" they have a Piper something or other to rent. He didn't know what kind of Piper it was. He gives me the card of the guy who owns the plane, and tells me to call him later this afternoon. I asked if there was an instructor available to check me out in the Piper something or other, and he gave me a different card, but said that he didn't know if he'd be around. I asked him how much they charge, for the Piper something or other, and he said he didn't know. I asked if they charged wet or dry, and he didn't know. I asked how much an instructor was, and he didn't know.
Listen, I get it. I had low expectations going into this because I've seen this before, at airports in the Carolinas and in the Midwest. But the saddest part is this: if this is how they treat me as a somewhat experienced pilot hoping to rent a plane and put money in their pocket, how do you think they treat some non-pilot who has always dreamt of learning how to fly, and who walks in after seeing the sign that says "Learn to Fly Here" with the excitement and hope of learning to pilot an airplane?
Maybe they're just happy servicing the business jets that probably stop here, and that's all that matters. But how did those jet pilots get started again?
And we wonder why the pilot population is falling.
Rant off. 😡
I'm in Scottsbluff, in far western Nebraska (it's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here) while my daughter takes two days of continuing education in bovine ultrasound. 🐄. Don't ask.
Anyway, I go to the the local airport, KBFF, Western Nebraska Regional airport. It's a Class E airport with commercial service, sitting at 3,967' MSL with two 8,000 x 150 runways. I thought it would be fun to rent an airplane and take a flight to see from the sky the beautiful, rugged scenery that our settlers saw from the ground when they traveled the Oregon Trail, which traveled through two passes in this area. Plus, I would like the challenge of a high density altitude flight. Did I mention it's hot here?
So I go to the airport and see the familiar green "Learn to Fly Here" signs that we have seen for years at most airports, and which actually used to mean something. The sign was in front of a hangar with a sign for Valley Airways. Cool! This should be fun.
The doors were dead bolted. There was a paper sign taped to the door that said that Valley Airways' FBO is now in the North Side of the terminal building. OK, they moved up! Cool.
I finally find the FBO on the West Side, not the North Side of the terminal building (idiots), and see Jethro (I don't know his name, but Jethro seems to fit) sitting behind a desk. There's a pilot lounge, Wx terminals to get weather, couches, and much of what you would expect to see. Except there is nothing about piston GA aircraft.
I tell Jethro what I would like to do, and he says he "thinks" they have a Piper something or other to rent. He didn't know what kind of Piper it was. He gives me the card of the guy who owns the plane, and tells me to call him later this afternoon. I asked if there was an instructor available to check me out in the Piper something or other, and he gave me a different card, but said that he didn't know if he'd be around. I asked him how much they charge, for the Piper something or other, and he said he didn't know. I asked if they charged wet or dry, and he didn't know. I asked how much an instructor was, and he didn't know.
Listen, I get it. I had low expectations going into this because I've seen this before, at airports in the Carolinas and in the Midwest. But the saddest part is this: if this is how they treat me as a somewhat experienced pilot hoping to rent a plane and put money in their pocket, how do you think they treat some non-pilot who has always dreamt of learning how to fly, and who walks in after seeing the sign that says "Learn to Fly Here" with the excitement and hope of learning to pilot an airplane?
Maybe they're just happy servicing the business jets that probably stop here, and that's all that matters. But how did those jet pilots get started again?
And we wonder why the pilot population is falling.
Rant off. 😡
).