Why is aviation so darn expensive?

This is like asking “Why’s the sky blue?”.  I know that, but bear with me.

I guess it’s the missionary mindset in me.  After living on foreign soil for nearly a decade on the edge of the South American rain forest I have a different perspective than most Americans.

Plastic forks and the cost of flying...there is a connection

You see, for example,  we had to re-use our plastic forks, zip-lock bags (we brought every three years from the US) and so on because you just couldn’t buy them in-country.  You also learned to make do with what you had, not having any Wal-Marts or big-box building supply houses within 2000 miles.  In short, missionaries must have or develop an attitude of flexibility as far as their physical needs being met and in accepting what God has provided.

And you know what?  We were very happy. In fact it was one of the happiest times in our lives.  It always surprised our folks when we came home every 3-4 years for a furlough that the kids always expressed their eagerness to “go back home” [to Ecuador].

So what does this have to do with the cost of aviation?

Last summer (2010) we interviewed Dick VanGrunsven (CEO of Van’s Aircraft) and ask for his advice to people building or considering building an airplane.  His answers can be summed up in two main points:

1. Build the plane you can afford, not the plane you want
2. Consider a partnership in building. After all 30 or 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

How profound I thought, yet so simple. In any event…good advice.

But we as Americans live in a bubble. We believe we can and frankly should have: what we want, when we want it and in the color we want it. Period. Instant gratification.  It’s our culture and how we are conditioned by an large.  Look at the credit card crisis in our country today if you need proof.  Listen to a Dave Ramsey broadcast sometime.

A little perspective….

It's all about perpsective. Here I am with some of my "customers"

While flying in Ecuador I flew into 15-20 jungle villages per day in an area about the size of the state of Alabama.  Yes per day.  Average strip length was maybe 400-500 meters and usually wet (we received 20-30 FEET of rain per year). The homes were straight out of National Geographic: thatched roofs with dirt floors.  Scrawny dogs running about, flocks of children from toddlers to teens raggedly dressed [by our standards] would run to the plane after landing.  The adult men were usually in shorts and the women in dresses.  Again though, fairly ragged by our standards.

But they almost always were grinning.  Smiling.

If I was returning a patient from a medi-evac flight out, say, for a snakebite,  pregnancy problem, or machete wound, often they offered me a live chicken, a basket of fruit or at the very least shook my hand and thanked me for flying the patient back home to the village and their family.

They had nothing but were happy and by-in-large content people.

I shot this the instant I opened the door of my 206 at a Quichua village. These are happy children! We could all take a lesson from them.(Click to enlarge)

After returning to Shell and sitting at the table each night for dinner with my family I would share about some of the interesting flights that day.  Looking back I realize it kept our life in perspective.  Why should I complain about my wife washing and having to re-use plastic forks? So what.  It just isn’t important.  She felt the same way.  My kids are very frugal even to this day.  My grown daughter goes through her closet every few months and pulls out clothes she no longer wears and takes them to a local mission thrift store.

Have you ever spent a night in the jungle?  I have.  Lots.  It’s very dark. No phone. No TV. No internet. You get sick or bitten by a snake….it’s a four day walk to a desolate dirt road and then wait a day or two for a bus to pass by, maybe.  Of course if you were fortunate to be near a village with a runway, they could usually radio for an MAF plane to come pick you up.  But you still had to get to that village.

So what’s the point?

1. First, we need to remember this, flying is a privilege and not a right.  My version?  It’s a blessing in my life to be able to do this.  Own a plane?  Unbelievable that I have been granted this opportunity.  But still, I have to work at being a frugal while at the same time a realistic builder (safety first).
2. Second,  I’m not pounding on anyone who chooses to spend the major, big bucks.  No way. That’s a personal choice and I’m all for that. That’s what makes the amateur built airplane so cool, the wide diversity of builds we are allowed to explore.
3. Finally, the real point [I probably rambled getting to] was more for those of you considering this experience, building your own plane: Remember Mr. Van’s advice “Build the plane you can afford not the one you want”.  Consider getting a partner. Be content with a percentage of something.

But in any event, learn to be content with what you can afford to build.  Don’t stress about the plane you “really wanted to build”.  You’ll never find real happiness and contentment worried about what you don’t have.  As the song lyric goes, “Happiness is wanting what you got, not getting what you want”.

I believe there a lot of wanna-be homebuilders scared off by the costs.  Don’t be.  I recommend a trip to EAA AirVenture (aka “Oshkosh”).  Take a camera, talk to builders.  You’ll see everything from soup to nuts there.

Once we get to where “building the plane you can afford” becomes the mantra, then costs will start to come down as more and value minded builders come into the fold.

It’s all about supply and demand and yes…contentment.

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More later….