Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
It used to be that Pop's FBO realized the promotion of aviation through reasonably priced rentals and training meant aircraft sales, repair work and tie down fees. Today what I see are predators killing off the few unfortunate animals that wander up to the water hole for a drink.
That's true of many of the big FBO chains that cater primarily to corporate jets - ie Signature, Millionair, et al. The Mom & Pop FBOs are still pretty reasonable (as much as it hurts to call $5/gal avgas cheap). There's just not many of them left. Here in the Twin Cities area there are maybe 1/2 of the FBOs that there were when I was learning to fly in the 90s, and more like 1/3 of the flight schools. It seems that being a predator, and serving primarily those with deep pockets, is about the only way to survive in GA anymore.
