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We all thought Sport pilot would help but now I am not so sure. I made the mistake of commenting a couple times on the Sport Pilot and Sport Aircraft egroups on Yahoo and quickly realized that the people on those groups had no interest with the old guys and their old airplanes. Are we going to see sport pilot centers pop up around the country filled with young people or is it another useless license like recreational? I have had contact with ultra light flyers, some good and some bad, I can see it going either way. What I mean by that is that some of the ultra light flyers took advantage of their status as un-licensed to thumb their nose at the rules and regulations that we pilots go by while some of them did consider themselves pilots and did follow the rules. Unfortunately those that did consider themselves pilots were the old guys that had lost there medical so they were long time pilots. We all supported sport pilot because we thought it would allow these guys to fly their old airplanes again but these are the guys that are getting screwed now while the young ultra light guys who don't give two hoots about the regs are free to fly the sport pilot aircraft. We also supported sport pilot to get young people interested but if they are content to keep themselves segregated from us old farts then if it does get off the ground there may be tension between the groups. I hope not. Some of the new LSAs are very interesting but I am an old fart who likes old cars, airplanes and Warbirds. There have always been different groups with different interest in aviation that have all gotten along at the airport because we all follow basically the same rules. The only exception I have seen is the ultra lights flyers. Unfortunately I think the majority of the sport pilots are going to come from that group as the young guys that are now going to be able to fly their fat ultra light legally some of which have been flying it illegally and not really caring. Once again this is not my view of all ultra light pilots, I have know and still know quit a few of them, but all the good ones also flew certificated aircraft at some time. I am in two EAA chapters, an experimental and a Warbird chapter, and we do have a few younger people but not many and we do fly a lot of Young eagles. I started flying when I was 19 and I have always noticed that all the guys at the airport were older then me and to some extent that is still true but the gap is getting narrower every year. The younger guys are not airport bums, they come to the airport, rent a plane, fly for an hour then go home. No wonder they loose interest after a couple years. Anyway I guess I have gotten off topic here and I hope I don't start a rat hole. I just remembered, I don't even remember what the topic was. Kevin -----Original Message----- From: Wayne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 6:54 AM To: Sydney Cohen; Maynard Smith Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] ERCOUPE TURNOUT! ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Hi Syd, I Just came from a meeting of the Central Valley Airmen's Association (California) and the same problem persists. After the meeting had progressed for several hours, we were all exhausted and way past our bedtimes, cause we were a bunch of old farts!! There wasn't one person around the table under 40! Where are all the kids interested in aviation? have all the rules and regulations scared em' off? Or is it the bunch of us old Dinosaurs that are hidden behind razor wire that don't present an interesting picture for them, or what? I don't have the answer, and neither do a lot of other people. The Young Eagle Program was supposed to bring us a whole new era of interested parties, but there was no follow up, and it took ten years to reach a million kids and parents. What a small portion of the population that is, and there are no kids at the fence any more. I wonder where they are! Remember; as long as you are a member of EAA and have a Parent or Guardians signature on an official Young Eagles form, you are covered under the EAA insurance for a Young Eagles Flight. However I still don't think that's the answer. I just don't know. When it happened to me at the 1997 Ercoupe Nationals, I thought it was me! I was over enthusiastic and did not involve enough people, but I have since realized that it was the beginning of a National trend. I hope some one has a suggestion. We fly to eat!! Wayne Woollard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sydney Cohen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Maynard Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] ERCOUPE TURNOUT! > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any > advice in this forum.]---- > > > I guess we've got to convince some people to fly their airplanes, not just > look at them. > > Syd > > > Maynard Smith wrote: > >>----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any >>advice in this forum.]---- >> >> >>Syd Cohen wrote: >> "You know, I'm kind of ashamed of you guys and gals. We now have 50 >> planes registered for the Ercoupes, Cubs & Aeroncas Fly-In at Pioneer, >> and out of the 50, only 3 are Ercoupes. Here I am, Ercoupe Owners >> Club Regional Director, and the Fly-In Chairman, and what do I get from >> the club? Not much." --------------------- >> Don't feel bad Syd, there are over 250 coupes registered in California >> and we are lucky to get 6 or 8 to a flyin! Maynard Smith, N99843, EOC >> (CA)N Wingleader. >> >>======================================================================== == ==== >>To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm >>Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/ >> >> >> >> >> > > ========================================================================== == == > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/ > > > > ========================================================================== == == To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/ ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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