Boeing 737 Max 9s grounded after panel break
(archive.ph)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (58)
sorted by:
Useful load restrictions, mostly. A entry level General Aviation plane has about 6-800 pounds useful load. Avgas is 6 pounds to the gallon, average person is 180-200 pounds. "You can fill the seats or you can fill the tank."
I am currently in the middle of the learning process actually, but I still haven't identified many possibilities to make a career out of it unless I want to become an instructor. Flying yourself is extremely expensive. Can't see it replacing commercial, unless I got to the point where people would charter me to fly them somewhere I wanted to go anyway.
Instructors get paid shit, but there are jobs outside the airlines for smaller plane pilots. Medical flights, remote locations like alaska, being an on call private pilot, charter, etc.
The major reason a cessna is so expensive is because the FAA certification process is insanely onerous. Look at experimental category aircraft for personal use - illegal to use for commercial purposes, but a better representation of what planes would cost without massive regulatory burden.
The FAA regs have some reason to exist, because planes falling out of they sky tend to be more disastrous than car defects - but they're also the biggest reason small scale air travel is still so expensive.