Late April say the IFR Pilot make a short-hop to Columbus, Ohio for the Spring meeting of the Ohio Aviation Association. Upon landing on runway 28L (after the proverbial "cleared to land runway 28L, keep your speed up") and taxiing to Land Aviation, I had a good chuckle at the irony of it. ATC certainly wasn't asking for an expedited approach to make room for Skybus. After all, they had gone bust and Port Columbus was chock full of bright orange aircraft. It was actually kind of sad:
The reality of the matter is that far too many members of the general public treat transportation by air as if it were nothing more than a flying bus. The cold, hard truth is that this view could not be further from the truth. Air transportation involves exponentially more variables that impact operations, not the least of which are the multitudinous regulations of the FAA.
It used to be that travel by air was a special occasion; today, its a hair's width -- if that -- above being a fungible commodity. No longer do people put on their Sunday best to travel, perhaps in large part because the TSA is going to make you remove your belt, shoes, coat, and more before you submit to the metal detectors.
Only time will tell which of the legacy carriers will survive the gauntlet thrown down by $120+ oil. Time will also tell when the price of 100LL reaches the breaking point.
In the interim, Mike Hotel and the IFR Pilot will continue to ply the skies.
1 comment:
Good riddance to Skybus. 60K a year for an A320 captain was an insult to the airline industry.
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