Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1847496
David Wood wrote:Covid may be temporary; but I suspect that the pandemic's effects on aviation will be permanent; coming as it has in coincidence with sudden awareness of the long-brewed Climate Crisis. Call me a Cassandra, but I think that the era of cheap intercontinental fossil-fuelled recreational air travel is in its twilight now. As is the era of manned pilotage, either military or commercial. I've loved my flying and I intend to do many more years of it. And there will certainly be a place for [probably electrically-powered] recreational flying in the future. But were I some 40 years younger I would not be seriously considering a career in commercial aviation, or indeed military aviation.

I've been thinking this for a long time. The writing is very much on the wall for the dinosaur that is the internal combustion engine, at least with fuel dug out of the ground. Even if we could photosynthesise AvGas or its equivalent, a reciprocating engine with the buggering about that goes on inside it is just bonkers really.

The thing that will kill it all in the short to medium term is airfield closures.

I do feel really sorry for the young pilots that are just getting into it. Enjoy it while you can!
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By David Wood
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1847510
The same is true of manned pilotage. Yes, yes, I know that people will point at Sully and say 'could a computer have done that?' But the trajectory of AI is such that in the not too distant future the answer will be Yes - and possibly better. And whilst few of us would want to get into a pilot-less aeroplane today, any more than most of us would want to climb into a driverless car today, before too long that too will change. And quite soon we won't have the choice.

So to me, the financial and ecological 'economics' are only pointing one way. The sun is setting on the world that most of us grew up in - and rising on a new one. In some respects Covid has merely hastened that process.
By lcolman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1847793
I don’t think that cheap travel is coming to an end - flying as a career might be time limited, however, there are thousands of airliners flying that still have upwards of 30 years life in the airframe and significant investment by the operators - after the purchase price and cost of fuel, and maintenance, pilots are one of the smaller expenses here.

As for alternative fuels - battery technology is not there and may never be, given the reliance on difficult to process materials along with energy density requirements for international flight.

We have been at peak Dino squeezings for years now with no signs of lower production, in fact when airliners stopped flying we didn’t know what to do with the stuff...

Anyway, time will tell - and none of us can see the future, however, we all know that people are generally sycophants - they will complain that the environment is in peril whilst boarding their flight to Sydney for the 6th time this year to go to the Enviro2022.6 conference.
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