I both agree and disagree with jrh. I will pay the premium dollars for flight training from someone I know and trust and is thorough, but I would fly more if prices were closer to ~100 bucks an hour. I mean 20-30 bucks per hour adds up quick.
And you flew...how much?...when you lived in Vegas and had ~$100/hour options? Not trying to call you out, just saying, you're proving my point without thinking about it.
I've seen it so many times before...people will say one thing but actually do another. It's not logical, it's based off their perceptions. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that necessarily. It's just the way it is.
Look at it this way...a person could rent a plane for $125/hr and fly 4 hours per month, or $100/hour and fly 5 hours per month for the exact same price. You could make a 1.0 hour flight once per week, or a 1.2 hour flight once per week. Is it really that much less fun or useful to go up for 1.0 versus 1.2?
But instead of getting out there and going for it, they decide not to fly at all because flying is "too expensive." Well, maybe it is, but if that's the case, it's going to be too expensive at either price. I don't expect everyone to put $500/month in to flying, but if a person *does* have that sort of disposable income, I think it's dumb to sit on the sidelines because of a $20-30/hr price difference.
Heck, the people who simply fly on a regular basis and are comfortable in a plane can probably accomplish as much in 1.0 hours as the once-a-monther does in 1.2 hours because the first pilot will spend less time running checklists, double checking everything, thinking about what to say on the radio, flying a wider pattern so they don't botch the landing, etc.
Now, if a person wants to talk about flying a 1940s VFR Champ for $60/hr versus a glass cockpit 172 for 2.5x as much at $150/hour, I can understand what people are talking about. But then again, an argument like that is comparing apples to oranges. Those are two different rental markets. The planes have completely different purposes and are flown by completely different demographics. The pilots interested in one probably wouldn't be interested in the other, regardless of price.
I hope I don't come off like a jerk for saying all this. I'm not judging anyone or saying everybody can afford to fly. I'm just saying, one of the keys I've found to staying excited about aviation is to budget, yet not worry about every nickel and dime I spend on flying. I have $400/month automatically transferred from my checking account to my "flying" savings account. Whenever I need gas, maintenance, or whatever, the money is always there. I recently had some extra so I installed a Reiff engine heater and battery maintainer to make it easy to fly even on these friggin' cold Nebraska days. I'm having a blast. I wish everybody could have this much fun with aviation.
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To answer your question, the place may not mind the advertising, but Doug might. If anyone wants it they could always PM for it as well.
