bob turner
Registered User
I am based at KMYF. We are down to about 1/2 of our 1977 operations. Lots of reasons for that.
The city has hired a new Director of Airports (his previous jobs were Fullerton and Sedona). He has stated to me that Piper Cubs belong in a field in the country, and that the days of single engine piston engine pleasure flying are over. He later qualified that by saying that what he meant was that nobody was learning to fly and that manufacturers were only making Cirrusi.
I spent some time yesterday with one of his staff. She was talking about "natural attrition" and the need to replace the lost little airplane business with larger turbine equipment. Those of us with small hangars are now being looked upon with some distaste (our hangars are not uniform in appearance, and do not have the regulation 126 foot taxiways required for our size airport). We will be offered a 15 year lease with no provisions for renewal, and the city is planning large outside tie down areas - maybe so the stragglers can park their prize antiques outside in 2031.
We are designated an S-12 airport, which means a 12,500 lb aircraft with single tire main mounts is the largest we allow. We have no specs for a dual wheel main mount airplane,but the city council many years ago restricted our airport to 20,000 lbs. no matter how many tires. We are now inviting much heavier airplanes in, and planning to extend the runway - presumably in preparation for the demise of small GA aircraft.
We have seen this before - KCRQ, not 25 miles away, was a semi-thriving GA airport a quarter century ago, and has been converted to almost 100% corporate jets and turboprops. Once we complete our metamorphosis, we will have three jet ports within 30 miles of each other, and those of us with Cubs can indeed head for the country.
Our new Director is in the process of convincing the city council that this is the way to go in the future. Obviously, it saddens me to see it happening. We have tried to get the attention of AOPA to help slow down the headlong rush, but so far they are busy with KSMO.
Wish us luck - as of right now, I believe that Cubs, Stearmans and other biplanes, and Champs are about 10% of all operations ( I am personally just under 3%). I will be 90 when the 15 year leases run out - this whole unfortunate thing might not affect me much. But what a shame for the future of general aviation, huh?
The city has hired a new Director of Airports (his previous jobs were Fullerton and Sedona). He has stated to me that Piper Cubs belong in a field in the country, and that the days of single engine piston engine pleasure flying are over. He later qualified that by saying that what he meant was that nobody was learning to fly and that manufacturers were only making Cirrusi.
I spent some time yesterday with one of his staff. She was talking about "natural attrition" and the need to replace the lost little airplane business with larger turbine equipment. Those of us with small hangars are now being looked upon with some distaste (our hangars are not uniform in appearance, and do not have the regulation 126 foot taxiways required for our size airport). We will be offered a 15 year lease with no provisions for renewal, and the city is planning large outside tie down areas - maybe so the stragglers can park their prize antiques outside in 2031.
We are designated an S-12 airport, which means a 12,500 lb aircraft with single tire main mounts is the largest we allow. We have no specs for a dual wheel main mount airplane,but the city council many years ago restricted our airport to 20,000 lbs. no matter how many tires. We are now inviting much heavier airplanes in, and planning to extend the runway - presumably in preparation for the demise of small GA aircraft.
We have seen this before - KCRQ, not 25 miles away, was a semi-thriving GA airport a quarter century ago, and has been converted to almost 100% corporate jets and turboprops. Once we complete our metamorphosis, we will have three jet ports within 30 miles of each other, and those of us with Cubs can indeed head for the country.
Our new Director is in the process of convincing the city council that this is the way to go in the future. Obviously, it saddens me to see it happening. We have tried to get the attention of AOPA to help slow down the headlong rush, but so far they are busy with KSMO.
Wish us luck - as of right now, I believe that Cubs, Stearmans and other biplanes, and Champs are about 10% of all operations ( I am personally just under 3%). I will be 90 when the 15 year leases run out - this whole unfortunate thing might not affect me much. But what a shame for the future of general aviation, huh?
