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Like it or not, more force will definitely raise costs, but it'll also push folks from category one to categories two and three. Or they'll just ignore the regs and begin a normalization of deviance.
[0] https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/superior08-11...
Yes please. If you can't afford flying around a missle, DON'T.
Gee, the aviation world would be so much safer if everyone just listened to pixl97.
I understand the logic you're using when you say you're happy that the standards are high. What you don't understand is how many A&Ps pencil whip annuals, or overlook corrosion or other safety issues all the time. They are overworked, and spend their time focused on a lot of box checking things that do not matter much and not enough time focusing on the things that do.
Let me make it clearer. If you used the same standards for your car, you'd have to get it fully reinspected every year and fix everything. A little corrosion on your hubcaps? Replace all of them (at 20x the cost you're used to). A chip in your windshield (replace the entire windshield at 10x the cost). Etc etc.
Source: I am studying for the A&P and I own a Cessna 182. The regs really do need to change for smaller certificated aircraft (such as changing annuals to semi-annuals). Look up Mike Busch and his videos on what reforms should look like.
I just had my plane in for an annual. No significant issues. Took 5 months. My plane was in the shop for 5 months. Remember, this is required ANNUALLY. That's how bad the shortage is right now. It's bad enough that I'm willing to take 6 months off work to go __become__ an A&P so I don't need to deal with them anymore.
There has been a massive increase in student/new pilots in the last 5 or so years. This will demand an increase in light aircraft technicians and engineers, just like any other industry that experiences growth in a sector.
I would be so happy if my plane could go 200 mph; it would make it so much more practical. It's faster than most at my airport, but not that fast by a lot. At 5000 feet you have so many more options; the regulation in 91.119 (off the top of my head, even) is 500 ft from houses + cars, or 1000 ft in "congested areas". There's some conjecture on what a congested area actually is.
Inspection do look for things like cracks, but are more for spotting illegal cupholders and ensuring logbooks are in order. There's a very keen understanding in the industry that a plane after maintenance is in its most dangerous state— plenty of folks wonder if disassembling airplanes on a yearly basis (sometimes sooner) and putting them all back together isn't worse than the alternative. On one of my plane's first annual inspections, I got the airplane back with the bottom of the engine cowling still disassembled-- parts just stuffed back in place. I then had a spark plug fail 2 hours later. We think it was dropped and cracked, but the mechanic didn't want to own up.
Unfortunately, the industry is not currently growing (you may recall some new stories about Spirit most recently). Further, most of "any other industry" are not so tied into the military and intense, stagnant regulation. People here keep telling you that aviation is in a rut. It's a rut we know how to get out of, but the government is going to have to allow us a pathway to do so. Otherwise, there are plenty of countries to look to for insights into our future— dead GA for the wealthy only, and a less free populace.