I was reading Charlie Spence’s Capital Comments column recently and I became intrigued by the numbers he was quoting from the FAA’s annual forecast. This annual study, which predicts aviation activities over the next 20 years, is used by the FAA to plan for the effects of expected growth.

The forecast predicted a rate of growth for general aviation over the forecast period of less than 1%, with fixed wing pistons having the smallest growth — barely 2/10ths of 1% a year!

According to the information Spence gleaned from the forecast, the GA fleet will increase over the next 20 years to 270,920 aircraft, a gain of nearly 50,000. The hours those planes are flown is also predicted to climb to 37.8 million hours by 2031, an increase of about 13 million. Annually that averages out to about 2,500 more planes a year and 650,000 additional hours flown each year.

Meanwhile, the FAA’s budget for Fiscal Year 2010 is $16 billion, up from $14 billion in FY2008. Its staff is at about 45,000 people in all areas of administration, with the number of controllers expected to climb to 15,596, a hike from 14,879 from 2007 to 2009.

That means there are 45,000 FAA employees for the nation’s 613,748 pilots, of which about 222,000 are private pilots … that works out to about six private pilots for every FAA employee or 13 for every pilot out there. That takes into consideration all persons with a certificate, no matter how active or inactive.

Which begs the question: Is the cost of the FAA one of the aspects of flying that has made the costs go up?

We all know the price of gas has increased dramatically in the last 10 years, with the recent spike driven by turmoil in the Mid-East. But everything that goes on an airplane or in one seems to have soared, too. Airplane costs, whether the aircraft are jets or Light Sport Aircraft, haven’t been immune to higher ticket prices, even though inflation over the last five years has been stagnant.

Government costs — all governments, including local, county, state and, especially, federal — have seen regular increases. Right now there are battles in several states seeking to reduce the cost of labor union benefits. The issues are numerous and the arguments are many but it seems to me our costs must be pared to help the general aviation community grow.

There’s a continuing interest in flight, but we’ve got to find a way to get more people into the industry. Obviously lowering the cost of entry is as important as encouraging those who can afford to fly as a hobby to get involved in general aviation.

The perception that anything smaller than a Boeing 747 is unsafe also needs to be changed. At the same time, we’ve got to find a way to encourage people to get into the cockpit. I watched 50 sailboats racing past my home the other day and I am willing to bet many of these boats cost as much to own, house and maintain as many airplanes at the Tacoma Narrows Airport. But, people don’t deny their neighbors the enjoyment of such luxuries. The reason? Virtually anyone can visualize himself or herself in a boat of some size (count me out on those beautiful, but hazardous, sailboats). At the same time they can’t visualize themselves flying an airplane of any size or complexity, from the simplest to the most exotic.

Can we do with fewer FAA personnel? I suspect we could. Would that reduce the cost? To a degree, but it will take lots of pressure to get things turned around. Most countries around the world are increasing rules and regulations and it seems to me we are following that model. That’s the wrong direction.

The solution? I don’t have one. But I know finances make a big difference for a lot of people — not all, but many. Reducing the costs will help and one way to do that is to make flying less complicated for the new pilot. When it requires 13 people to oversee every individual with a pilot certificate, there’s something wrong with the system.

I’m an optimist by nature. It’s a good thing I am, considering having spent the last 40 years not only in the aviation business but the aviation publishing business. During this major slice of my life, I can attest to the ups and downs of this business (no pun intended) as I’ve watched the number of pages we’ve produced expand and retreat, a nearly perfect mirror of the industry itself.

However, through all those years I’ve always felt the next month or next period or next year was going to bring improvements and, without fail, over the decades things have always gotten better. Granted, it has sometimes taken longer than I liked to see the turnaround, but it has consistently improved, given the time.

What brought this all to mind? An e-mail from a fellow in Alaska and a phone call from another person located close by.

The Alaskan, Maurice Wilson of Wolf Lake, wrote the following: “Last century, I was developing Wolf Lake Airport up in Alaska and used your magazine for ads and updates. I am pleased to report that after only 30 years the airport is basically finished. It is probably the finest residential airpark in the western U.S.A.

“With no state or federal funding, we managed to build the facility to FAA basic utility airport standards. As an example, the main paved runway is 500 feet between building lines and access is via taxiways only. Over 100 individual hangars, many built into homes on acre size lots, make it user friendly. I still credit General Aviation News for helping make this project what it is.”

Talk about optimism — how many people do you know who would stick to a dream for more than 25 years?

The phone call was from Jerry Nybo, a contractor who lives about 35 miles from me. He wanted to talk about advertising property he had for sale on a smaller, rural airport. He, too, had been working on his project for a while, but only about four years. He had subdivided land on the Eatonville, Wash., airport and wanted to build hangars on part and residential airpark lots on another section.

Interestingly, Jerry’s not a pilot. “My friend and I had figured when this project got moving we’d buy a plane together and learn to fly,” he told me the other morning as we toured the property.

Unfortunately, the Eatonville project is moving slowly, not a big surprise, considering the state of the economy in general and that of the general aviation industry in particular. He’s got roads and sidewalks built, all the utilities are in place, and in January he was scheduled to get a building permit for his first two hangars. One of them is sold and the other will be built on speculation, he explained. The home lots haven’t had much interest yet.

As I visited with Jerry I kept thinking about the perseverance of Wilson in Alaska. His determination faced a bunch of obstacles over the years. You can read his entire story, and that of those who also spent their time and money on Wolf Lake, by going to WolfLakeAirport.biz. Be sure to click on the history link and look at the photos. This has been an amazing project and I think a lot of it has to do with the optimism of Maurice and others with whom he associated himself.

The Eatonville airport — officially Swanson Field — has lots of potential, just as Wolf Lake did. The paved runway is in and there are some homes and hangars on the field. The field is close to town and is well accepted by the community. Jerry’s plan for Aviator Heights includes the homesites overlooking the runway and the hangars at runway level. It’s out of the metro traffic areas (both aviation and auto), but not so far out that it’s not convenient. (Jerry can be reached at 253-435-1880.)

Wolf Lake is about 50 miles north of Anchorage; Eatonville is about 50 miles south of the Seattle metro area and less than 35 miles to Tacoma and Olympia. The Alaska project kept going because the optimists — I guess you can also spell that dreamers — kept at it. The Washington State project has already had its ups and downs — one partner has had to file for bankruptcy and the bank has agreed to a major cut in interest on the loan to make things more workable.

Using the Wolf Lake effort as an example, I’m hoping that Jerry has the optimism, dream and perseverance to make his effort come to reality. I know things looked mighty bleak for me in the 1970s when I purchased what is today’s General Aviation News and the industry plummeted from selling thousands of planes a year to a hundred or two. But, the visionaries and the optimists kept at it … sometimes questioning their own minds, but going on anyway.

Wolf Lake is a good example of how aviation has lifted itself by the bootstraps. I think Eatonville’s Swanson Field with its Aviator Heights subdivision can do the same.

Recently I received an interesting note from an individual in Europe. He had watched an EAA-sponsored webinar on residential airparks and was really wanting to find one in the U.S. to which he could move. He has already decided that he prefers Florida. He indicated he had looked at advertisements for Leeward Air Ranch in Florida. The grass runway was OK with him, but now he was obviously looking for someone to make the final decision for him … or at least weed down his options dramatically.

Interestingly, he mentioned that probably only he could make the choice, but he still wanted some assistance.

Wow! I can’t even imagine getting into the middle of such a decision for an investment that obviously is tremendous financially and socially. That’s not even considering the role my wife would have in such a decision … of course, I didn’t learn if this individual was married or single, so perhaps that doesn’t count in the equation.

My suggestion was for him to go to our website, LivingWithYourPlane.com, and look at all the links to residential airparks in Florida and at least check them out in that manner. I also suggested that he needs to use our guidelines for selecting the right residential airpark even when looking at websites.

I explained that by using the airparks’ websites he can probably weed things down to a handful and then he could come to the states and visit each of them.

One thing that I should have pointed out is that there are a lot of other residential airparks in the southeastern United States that he should also consider. I’ve nothing against Florida, but he needs to check out some other states, too.

The interesting part of this discussion is the primary point: A European gentleman looking for a residential airpark in the United States. There are some residential airparks in Europe, but they are few and far between and those available don’t offer the great variety of choices found in the US. Most of the European airparks I’ve received information on are probably designed for and seek upperclass folks … spell that the very, very rich.

In the United States, there are airparks in virtually every region of the country ranging from very modest to extremely high end. To me this illustrates the fact that Americans still have a wide range of options in general aviation and virtually all other aspects of life, despite the recent economic problems we’ve been experiencing.

And, it also indicates that despite all the problems we like to talk about here in the states, people from all over the world still want to come here. We complain about regulations and onerous FAA activity, but when compared with the over-the-top requirements in most other countries of the world, we’ve still got it pretty darn good. Heck, there are a lot of countries where general aviation can’t even be enjoyed by the average person. And, when it comes to fees, no one is charging us — yet — for filing a flight plan or using ATC during a flight.

I don’t hear of a lot of Americans going to France or Japan or Russia to get a pilot certificate, but flight schools here get lots of international students. Even though everyone bitches about much it costs to get a rating in the states, foreign residents consider it a bargain here.

Getting back to the individual asking for help in choosing a residential airpark, I hope he checks out a lot of residential airparks, comes over and selects one and purchases the property. I think someone making a conscious effort to move from Europe to the U.S. so he can live on a residential airpark is going to be a solid supporter of general aviation here because he has seen how much better it is than anywhere else.

Slightly changing the subject, I’ll be at the AOPA Aviation Summit next month but, for the first time in more than 10 years, I won’t be doing a program on residential airparks. As a matter of fact, there won’t be any program on this growing and exciting aspect of general aviation. AOPA officials said they wanted to try some different programs this year and didn’t have room for the subject.

So, even though I won’t have a regular forum this year, I will have a lot more time available to visit with anyone interested in the subject. I’ll be in the General Aviation News booth whenever the exhibit hall is open and I’ll bring copies of our guidelines for selecting a residential airpark and other materials. Come on over and visit.

The floatplane’s pilot claimed he was returning from a weekend away from home, hadn’t heard the president was going to be in town, and hadn’t checked for NOTAMS before taking off for the short flight to home base at Lake Washington’s Kenmore Air Harbor.

The pilot briefly entered the TFR and — before the fighters could intercept his plane — had flown out of the TFR and landed. After visiting with the Secret Service, he readily acknowledged he was in the wrong by not checking for NOTAMS. The Secret Service said they were satisfied with the explanation and notified the pilot that any further action would come from the FAA.

A few days after the incident — which resulted in the jets creating sonic booms that resulted in the 911 emergency system crashing because of an avalanche of calls — my wife received an e-mail from a fellow Toastmasters Club member. Knowing we are involved in general aviation, this fellow sent the following message: “We’ve all heard about the Sonic Boom. OK. BUT, doesn’t the pilot have to file a flight plan? Or is this a rule that is often overlooked? Or does general aviation just fly off wherever and whenever? IN which case, if bad guys want to create mischief, I guess the Piper Cub would be the plane.”

How would you respond to such a message?

I explained that flight plans aren’t mandatory except in controlled airspace and those areas are noted on appropriate charts. I then compared the flight of a private plane from point A to point B as being about the same as a car, motorcycle or truck going between the same communities. No permission is needed for such a road trip and no one needs to be notified. The same goes for boats, I pointed out.

As for the “guys wanting to create mischief,” I explained that an 18-wheeler or a motor home and many SUVs could cause more damage than a light plane.

Finally, I pointed out that most GA pilots are responsible individuals who had to undergo considerable training to earn their pilot certificates. That pilot ticket cost a lot more in money and time than getting a driver’s license. In fact, the amount of training and the intense study of rules and regulations made getting a driver’s license more like a joke in comparison.

The perception of the individual contacting my wife is, unfortunately, the same as that of many individuals: Pilots are loose cannons who go off without a “flight plan” and can go wherever they want whenever they want in a manner that is irresponsible and dangerous to the rest of the population.

How do we change such a perception? What must be done to make the general public more accepting of those of us who have decided to take advantage of the conveniences of flight? I don’t see these same perceptions about boaters or those with huge motor homes. Is it envy? Can it be that people fear that which they don’t understand or are unable to personally accomplish? Can we ever change the public’s feelings relative to general aviation?

It seems to me that, in one sense or another, I’ve been trying to find the solution to the same problem for the 40 years that I have been involved in the general aviation industry and it doesn’t seem that the solution is any closer now than it was when I first started writing about it. That doesn’t make me feel any better!

What are your thoughts? Can we do more in public schools? Are EAA and AOPA doing enough to educate the public? Are pilots a reckless group of individuals who don’t pay enough attention to the rules and ultimately endanger the public?

Let me hear your thoughts!

Dave Sclair was co-publisher of General Aviation News from 1970-2000. He can be reached at Dave@GeneralAviationNews.com.

Lindbergh Foundation director John Peterson announced the addition of Kermit Weeks (second from left) and Sean Tucker (second from right) to the foundation's board. Also participating in the announcement during AirVenture was David Treinis, Lindbergh Foundation executive.

“It is a special honor to have individuals with this level of creativity and commitment join with the rest of us on the Lindbergh board at this time of unusual opportunity,” said Lindbergh Chairman and CEO Larry Williams.

Weeks, who has been a friend of the foundation for a number of years, said he was “looking forward to being associated with such a great group of people supporting a great cause.” Tucker responded that he “resonated strongly with the foundation’s Aviation Green program and wanted to help make a difference in this world.”

The Lindbergh Aviation Green program is a multifaceted effort that encourages innovative solutions through providing research grants, education programs, as well as presenting annual awards. The Lindbergh Foundation was founded in 1977 by a group of aviation notables that included Neil Armstrong and Jimmy Doolittle to continue the technology and environmental legacy of the Lindberghs. Since its inception, the foundation has given more than $3 million in grants to researchers working for breakthroughs that could better the environment and quality of life.

For more information: LindberghFoundation.org

John M. Tippets’ father, Joe Tippets, was one of those on the aircraft. Much of the survival story in Tippets’ new book, “Hearts of Courage,” is related as father told it to his son. In addition to the survival aspect and courage shown, the author has done considerable research into the crash and the harrowing survival and rescue experiences with the end result a fascinating, larger than life experience.

Tippets was a member of the Mormon Church and he credits his faith for surviving the crash and the ensuing days and weeks in sub-freezing weather, hiking down the side of a mountain and making his way, with one of the three other survivors, to the beach and ultimately having sailors on a ship spot them.

Hearts of Courage also includes numerous photos of the crash scene and additional information about Gillam, as well as flying operations in Alaska during the war years.

Copies of Hearts of Courage are available from Amazon and most aviation bookstores. Retail price is $19.95. You can also contact Tippets by email: johntippets@yahoo.com

Going back through my logbooks was a wonderful trip back in time and helped me recall a host of wonderful memories…and a few that made me shudder again. Thank heavens, most of my flying experiences were dull and boring.

If you want to spend a few hours delving into nostalgia, get your logbooks and let yourself drift back in time. One word of caution, however: Don’t expect to spend just a few minutes perusing the records. My planned work session on the book quickly fell by the wayside as I read and recalled the planes, the instructors, the airports visited, and the weather experienced.

When I pulled out my stack of logbooks, a trusty old E6B flight computer fell out. That’s another interesting device. I wonder how many pilots — old or new — can use one efficiently today? Not me!

My first entry was dated Jan. 7, 1963. It was in a Cessna 172. The entry under remarks reads as follows: taxiing, pre-flight, familiarization, straight & level, turns. I flew a total of 9 logged hours over the next couple months.

Unfortunately, the last entry was March 22 of that year and I don’t show any more flying until Aug. 5, 1967 — that’s about 4.5 years. I recall that my flying instruction in Texas came about because I had an interest and fortunately the publisher of the newspaper where I was working, Nev Williams, had been a pilot and airplane owner. When he learned of my interest, he pointed out that the FBO at nearby Wink, Texas, owed for some advertising. If I could get the FBO to give me flying lessons for the amount owed, it would be just fine with him. Perhaps the advertising credit ran out or, more likely, changes in the newspaper staff limited my time.

At any rate, I moved to Edmond, Okla., in 1965 and was able to get the time and money together to resume my flight instruction a couple years later from Soc Nelson in Guthrie, Okla. My logbook shows I started flying there in a Cessna 150. I continued lessons on and off for a couple of years and soloed for the first time on Aug. 10, 1967.

That first solo was an experience unlike any other I recalled. When I arrived at the airport that day, Soc was flying with another student. The plane taxied up to where I stood and the student got out, walked over, and said Soc said I should get into the plane. They never shut down the engine! I got in and we made a few touch and goes, then Soc got out and told me to go around three times.

While on downwind I remembered looking at the fuel gauge for the first time. It was all the way on empty. Not a little down — all the way down, sitting on the empty mark. I just knew I was going to run out of fuel and crash. Obviously I didn’t. I made it around and pulled up to the office. Soc came out and said, “I told you to make three landings.” When I told him the plane was out of fuel, he suddenly remembered he had forgotten to tell me the gauge had gone out earlier that morning and the plane really had full tanks! Things were a little different back then.

Shortly after that I started flying at Oklahoma City’s Wiley Post Airport in a 172. I continued flying 172s until September 1969 when I had the opportunity to fly a friend’s 210.

The next different aircraft was a Cherokee 180, then a Cherokee 160. A flying club in Oklahoma City that I joined owned both. The club had the two model Cherokees and a 172, I recall. The 160 had manual flaps and a hand brake and no one liked it, so it was almost always available for me to fly.

In 1970 we acquired what is today General Aviation News and a Cessna 150 was included in the deal. Another friend let me fly his Bonanza later that year and in November 1970 we bought our Piper 250 Comanche.

With the exception of flights for pilot reports, my flying continued in the Comanche for many years. I bought a Cessna 172XP later, then an ultralight and a Piper J3 Cub. A Piper Seneca we acquired was on leaseback a lot of the time. After the Seneca came a Beech E55 Baron and finally a Cessna 205. I didn’t compile all the planes I flew so I could write pilot reports, but there were a lot of them.

Looking at the logbooks and recalling the planes has been great. I guess I’m going to have to recall some of the incidents and write about them next.

How about you? What kind of training did you go through and which airplanes did you own or fly? Let me hear your experiences by writing me at: Dave@GeneralAviationNews.com.

Dave Sclair was co-publisher from 1970-2000.

When a friend brought me a book written by a friend of his about the friend’s efforts to buy a plane and fulfill a lifelong ambition to fly around the world, I kinda rolled my eyes. And, when I started reading and discovered the airplane he was buying was a Cessna 150 and the lifelong ambition was to fly around the world, well, I almost threw it away without opening the cover.

I decided to read the first paragraph or two and then the first chapter just because my friend had brought it to me. After getting that start I was glad I did because this was a fun-filled, humorous account of an episode that shouldn’t happen to anyone.

The book was very good!

“So you Think You’d Like to Buy an Airplane … and fly off to Adventure” is the rather lengthy title of the book by Gerald F. McMahon Jr., a native of Charleston, S.C. He’s a US Army vet active in real estate and with a business in Irish imports.

McMahon’s first chapters recount his efforts to buy a Cessna 150, an airplane in which he had learned to fly a number of years earlier. The book doesn’t exactly say it, but I suspect from the period when he earned his ticket until buying the airplane he did not do a great deal of flying, but he did do a lot of dreaming … like buying a Cessna 150 and flying it around the world.

McMahon takes us through the seeking, finding and negotiating for his plane and then the snake-bitten experiences in trying to get it. Being charitable I can say McMahon did just about everything wrong but finally got his plane.

After a hectic experience flying it the 400 miles to Charleston, he ultimately decided it would be more prudent to change his lifelong flight ambitions from around the world to around the US … and that was ultimately shortened to another snake-bitten experience of flying it to touch down in Texas and return home.

Surviving that experience, he next tried to visit his daughter in the Florida Keys. On the way home from his aborted flight, he suffered a complete engine failure but landed without injury or damage on the beach. And, decided he needed to sell his airplane.

In between the start and the finish, McMahon tells a tale that makes me appreciate his blind fool luck – or something like that. He tells the story in a straightforward manner that is funny and at the same time makes you wonder how he could have done this.

You can order a copy online at Booksurge.com or Amazon.com. You won’t be disappointed.

Six WASPs (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots) of World War II were recently recognized at the Museum of Flight’s Hangar Gala at Seattle’s Boeing Field. In addition to the WASPs, the gala was held to recognize the anniversary of the B-17, built at the Boeing plant in Seattle. The WASPs (each wearing a red ribbon holding their Congressional Gold Medal) are (left to right) Josephine Swift, Betty Dyboro, Enid Fisher (in wheelchair and who died two days after the ceremony), Dorothy Olson, Mary Sturdevant and Nancy Dunham. (Photo courtesy Museum of Flight)

For more information: MuseumOfFlight.org

Oshkosh and Sun ‘n Fun always amaze me by the sheer numbers of aircraft that are on the field at any one time. The business events impress me with the size and scope of the planes used in corporate flying. The Reno Air Races are fun to watch for the simple power, speed and, yes, the daring of many of those pilots.

But, for absolute fascination, there is nothing like driving around Lake Spenard and Lake Hood in Anchorage and viewing the multitude of airplanes. This is the only tower-controlled floatplane facility anywhere and, with the number of planes based here and the extent of the operations, it is easy to understand why some control is helpful.

I’m writing this while attending the Alaska State Aviation Trade Show & Conference, which took place in Anchorage May 1-2. I’ve already run into people I know from virtually every corner of the United States and Canada. The show is located in the FedEx hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) and the interior is filled with exhibitors, while the ramp is packed with aircraft ranging from antiques to sport planes to cabin class bizjets.

But, what continually surprises and thrills me every time I come up here and have the opportunity to look around, is the number of aircraft and pilots. There are 613,745 pilots in the United States, according to FAA data from 2008. In Alaska, about 10,000 people have pilot certificates and about that same number of aircraft are registered in the state. And, it is often said that if everyone in Alaska who flew had a pilot certificate and current medical, the numbers would probably be a heck of a lot higher.

Of course, we all know that Alaskans use general aviation like the rest of the country uses the interstate highway system to get around. However, in Alaska, there aren’t roads leading to every town and hamlet so the airplane is it … wheels, skis or floats, summer, fall, winter and spring, big or little plane. They are used to transport people, to fly students to school, to deliver mail, food and other supplies. Emergency hospital runs are by airplane, of course.

I can only imagine what flying would be like if the attitude toward general aviation was as positive in the rest of the states as it is in Alaska. There are parts of the lower 48 where general aviation is treasured and used much more than in others … the upper Midwest states stick out in my mind, particularly Montana. The large areas between relatively small communities makes flying as attractive to folks in Montana as it is to those in Alaska.

Perhaps if we tore up the interstate highway system, flying would increase in utilization and popularity throughout the country. Or if we could just educate the public to the convenience, the efficiency and, yes, the relative safety of general aviation, we would be able to get more people to join us in the skies. Educating folks seems like a perpetual project, one that has obviously worked in Alaska.

While the use of aircraft has obviously sunk into the mainstream of Alaskans, I discovered something surprising today. With all the flying, I assumed Alaska had one of the most complete and extensive aviation divisions of any state in the union. Boy was I surprised to learn that there is no aeronautics division or aviation specific department of the Alaska Department of Transportation. Instead, the state is split into three regions and each of those has a department responsible for all aspects of transportation. Unfortunately, none of those regions have specific aviation arms. The net result is that support and coverage varies from region to region.

The state owns about 215 airports, while municipalities own another 35 or 40. When you count in the privately owned strips that are registered in the state, the total comes to around 700, according to knowledgeable folks up here.

The problem is that the state operations provide little professional or experienced airport management. They are good engineers but don’t have much in the way of experience in managing airports.

Just in the last few months an organization has been formed of Alaska airport management people. The goal is to improve management. Now the group is trying to get the DOT to join in and help upgrade operations.

I’m really surprised that a state with such extensive use of aviation hasn’t long been a leader among state aeronautics divisions. Let’s hope something positive comes out of the realization that the state airports need more assistance and leadership.

I did point out to the folks to be careful what they wish for — they might just get more government participation and that isn’t always the best course of action. It’s going to be interesting to see what ultimately results.

Dave Sclair was co-publisher of General Aviation News from 1970-2000.