Back in the 1950's, Cessna Aircraft produced this gem... "Wings for Doubting Thomas"
This little documentary clearly spelled out the value proposition for Private Aviation 2 generations ago.
I rarely talk about "General Aviation."
Like most people who read this blog, I'm much more interested in, "Private Aviation."
You might think quickly that it's the same, thing, but it's not. General aviation is broadly defined as as all aviation except for military and airlines. That's great, but I'm not a, "General Aviation enthusiast." Frankly I don't care much about, "General Aviation." I don't fly biz jets, cargo, fly much for hire, (Though I have the certificate for, it's just not a big part of my life these days.) spray crops, perform in air shows, whatever...
While I may aspire to sit in the back of a something with turbines, drinking Cristal... It does not inspire me. I'd rather be up front flying the jet.
"Private aviation is the part of civil aviation that does not include flying for hire."
"In most countries, private flights are always general aviation flights, but the opposite is not true: many general aviation flights (such as banner towing, charter, crop dusting, and others) are commercial in that the pilot is hired and paid. Many private pilots fly for their own enjoyment, or to share the joys and convenience of general aviation with friends and family."
You see "General Aviation," is doing just fine. Ask anyone running a jet charter business these days. Business is up, folks who choose to afford it are buying jet cards and getting to where they want to go in style, and plenty of people are making a good living helping them get there. I'm fine with all that. "General Aviation," is not dying. It's growing.
But "Private Aviation" is the community that inspires me. It's Private Aviation that's what we're really talking about when we fry bacon at Camp Scholler, or eat pancakes at the fly in. The ability to climb into a plane and fly myself and my friends or family someplace is like a magic power.
It's Private Aviation that we built OpenAirplane to serve.
So you see, I don't talk much about General Aviation. When I speak to the press about OpenAirplane. I explain that it is a marketplace for Private Aviation. I get asked all the time if OpenAirplane will let them hail a jet like they can hail a cab, or if we can help them charter a flight. My answer is always, "Not yet." It's just not the business we're in right now. There are plenty of smart people working to offer charter for businesses and pleasure. That part of General Aviation is well served. I explain that we are focused on Private Aviation, because that's where the opportunity lies today to unlock more value than anywhere else right now. General Aviation is a competitive, well served market with a healthy ecosystem. But Private Aviation hasn't seen much innovation since Cessna commissioned that film. This is strange to me, because GPS, iPads, and composites sure have made it a lot easier. Private Aviation can create entirely new use cases for the over 5,000 airports, thousands of aircraft, and hundreds of thousands of certificates in the wallets of pilots across the country.
Private Aviation has been in decline since the airlines we're deregulated in 1978. The value proposition of Private Aviation has been evolving ever since. The industry and the community need to both step up to communicate the value proposition for Private Aviation to new generation of "doubting Thomases," updating what you see in the old documentary film above to speak to the value proposition we can offer today.
For most of us, the conversation isn't about General Aviation, it's about Private Aviation. Let's call it what it is. I have no time sit back and complain. I believe we can make it better than ever.
[NOTE: This post first appeared on the AOPA "Opinion Leaders" blog]
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