These people are rich, but they’re not the wealthy. These are your doctor types, not your billionaires. Doctors are paid well for sure, but they should be paid well.
A lot of people hear or read “plane” and assume like a million dollars. You can quite literally buy a single prop piston engine small plane for less than $100k USD. Yearly cost to maintain can be as little as a few thousand if flights hours are low.
Also, many of those planes are timeshared. Most of the people I know in those places share a plane with several other people or have small kit planes they built.
You can get a Cessna 172 or even some nice Mooneys for around $50k. Unlike cars, even really old ones are kept in good running order because parts time out and have to be regularly maintained. Even if you want to buy a newer plane, a lot of people in GA use fractional ownership. That $200k newish Cirrus SR22 is fairly likely owned by 4 people splitting the bill. GA isn’t cheap by any measure, but it also isn’t exclusively for the wealthy. Upper middle class can get into it without too much issue. The people we should be raising everyone to, not tearing down.
Your source talks about the consumption once it is off the ground. My understanding is that taking off requires more energy than maintaining height and speed like it works for literally every other vehicle.
What does flying 300 miles look like in terms of fuel consumption
Of course, takeoff and climb are typically at full power but to reach cruising altitudes for a single engine airplane doesn’t take very long. It’s a similar concept to a car on a highway onramp, except that airplanes actually get more efficient at higher altitudes.
It factors into overall consumption but it doesn’t really blow the whole equation for efficiency. Pilots in training do takeoffs and landings on repeat for hours at a stretch between refueling.
Like, you’re almost certainly not using that plane to commute. You may use it instead of buying a commercial plane ticket when you go on vacation somewhere, but that’s not saving you any money, it’s likely costing you significantly more in storage fees, etc.
People who own planes aren’t billionaire-rich necessarily, but they’re still people who can afford hobbies that cost $100k.
Of course they’re not using it to commute daily. You even pointed out in your first sentence: It’s a hobby.
Someone else in this thread also mentions that many small aircraft have multiple “owners” who share it. Just like timeshare vacation property. Everyone who is part in it, shares the cost of maintenance. This makes it even cheaper. This counters your statement of:
that’s not saving you any money, it’s likely costing you significantly more in storage fees, etc.
People who live in a community where you can store your airplane in a garage and then commute from your garage to the runway aren’t going to partially own a plane. What would be the point in having that kind of a property but not being able to use it because you only got to see your plane one week per month?
Not every private pilot has a $100k hobby, but anybody who buys a house with a taxiway going up to it almost certainly owns their own plane, and their hobby is not cheap.
People who live in a community where you can store your airplane in a garage and then commute from your garage to the runway aren’t going to partially own a plane.
That’s where you’d be wrong. Many are shared. Just because one of the owners lives beside the runway doesn’t mean it’s solely theirs. I’m not the only one to say this. lemmy.world/comment/3346098
What would be the point in having that kind of a property but not being able to use it because you only got to see your plane one week per month?
Save money first and foremost. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved. And one week per month is a lot of time. You don’t know what the arrangement is for those involved. The time share could be wildly different depending on each pilots desires.
The aircraft hold their value, and actually appreciate. The actual cost is about $10k a year. Lots of people spend far more than that on other hobbies.
Over half of all pilots in the US (200k) hold a commercial pilot certificate and use flying as their sole source of income or as a way to supplement their income. Commercial pilots makes $50k a year until they can become airline pilots which have salaries starting at $100k.
Idk, I would not go with “I am a doctor so I deserve money with which I can live a live that seems so unhinged to the median income earner that I not only can allow to have a big car with which probably only one human at a time is driving, no, I also have a plane whith which probably only me is flaying at once and I have access to my own airfield”. They would still be on my menu right after the billionaires
That depends on the doctor. Not all are paid the same. Plastic surgeons get paid huge dollars for a lot of frivolous work. I’m with you there. But a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon… They deserve the big bucks. I don’t care at all that they can afford a German car and a small general aviation plane. I care more about the working class not being able to afford a decent new car and the billionaire that has to decide which super car to drive that day.
My wife’s grandparents used to live in a sky park like that. Right before the birth of my second child I was laid off and my wife was doing her student teaching. Suddenly in a rough situation with no income. Her grandparents came to visit for Christmas and their way of commiserating with us was to say, “I know how it is; we just had to sell our second airplane…” No irony, not joking. They honestly felt that losing one of their airplanes was equitable to losing a job with 2 babies in the house. It’s ok though, I came out on top. I have a job now and they’re both dead.
I have a model of an F-14 I made as a kid, Microsoft flight sim and a 15 year old flight stick. Does that count? Full disclosure, the F-14 is missing a vertical stabilizer now.
I’m not sure she’s correct about milk melting faster than cream or that the “deflates” if you whip too much air into it.
One of the three main differences between the ice cream and gelato is air content. ice cream has more air and doesn’t loose it over night; it would be bubbly too with all the air escaping. Gelato melts quicker because it is served 10 to 15 degrees F warmer than ice cream (this main differences).
Low air content and warmer temp is why gelato is smoother.
Source: My Italian wife and I have had long discussions and Internet searches on the finer points of this topic. I’m not an expert, I could be wrong.
All marketing is pandering. This company just saw a huge niche that hadn’t yet been filled and jumped in. You’re not wrong that it’s somewhat exploitative, but all products are to some extent.
Fun fact: in the United States you can request this same sort of receipt. It’s slightly different, but all you have to do is request it, and they can show you exactly how many brown people they shot, or godless communists they’ve brought democracy to with your taxes!
Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after the magazine’s humorous “Feedback” column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman[1] and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon.
As someone born and raised in the Midwest (Ohio and Illinois) and is currently a resident on the West Coast (Oregon), the way I define it is as such: if there is corn, it's the Midwest. If there are cowboys on horses, it's the west or southwest. Does your state touch the Atlantic or Pacific? That's what coast you are on (Hawaii and Alaska excepted).
mildlyinteresting
Top
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.