The Family Personal Aircraft

[scotrace]

Having seen more than a few references in wartime and post-war publications to the coming trend of personal aircraft, one wonders why it never "took off."
One 1939 Esquire article outlines what to expect during your first flying lesson (average cost: $5). The author says that the reader should be considering buying his first small plane just as he did his first automobile twenty years earlier. A fellow could expect to be profficient and flying solo in 6 or 7 hours of instruction.
This wartime ad (Motor Magazine 12/43) vividly portrays what many thought was going to happen: a car in every garage and a plane in every backyard hangar. "You'll discover a whole new world of enchantment in your Cessna car of the air."

So what happened? Why didn't personal, self-flown air transportation catch on in the United States after the war? A small two-place plane could be had for$1500. Not that much more than a Buick. Cost could not have been the deciding factor. Safety? Government regulations? Fear?

 

[GA Wildlifer]

I don't know.

It sounds good to me.

I have seen several articles like this over the years. They intreague me because I have always wanted to learn how to fly. One of those "before I die, I wan to ..." sort of things.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

The main reason would be it takes a good bit of skill beyond driving an automobile to fly light aircraft.
Actual costs of keeping and maintaining the aircraft were another large factor.


A number of writers that had no concept of the difficulty of piloting a helicopter, much less the complexity of early rotary-winged aircraft, promoted this idea that missed the mark by an even wider margin.
(A number of early helicopters were very difficult to fly and maintain.)

The early helicopter industry was especially hit hard by the postwar aviation bust, when they found that their main customers were military.

 

[Cabinetman]

Sure makes me miss it, Scott! Boo hoo for me, I haven't flown in probably 8 years. Professionally, it didn't pan out, and as a hobby, too expensive. Plus the cabinetshop was "taking off", so the time went away as well. I let my flight my instructor certificate lapse a couple years ago. Oh, woe is me. I'd cry in my beer if I drank. But enough about me, good grief!

I didn't realize that it was promoted like this. Very neat idea. Wasn't flying commercially supposed to be so very glamorous? Certainly folks dressed better specifically when they were an airline passenger. That flying family does look smashing, and oh so happy! (it's like I am looking in a mirror...) Maybe too much simplicity in the personal craft. Awe, that's lame :fing28:. I'll go with one of your suggestions - fear. I will add logistics. Would this mean every house now had to have a grass strip? "Airport communties" do exist today.

(For those who don't know, it's comparable to a housing development around a golf course. But instead of every house being owned by a golfer who has a little shed to house his/her golf cart, every house is owned by a pilot and has a hangar, and the golf course is a runway.)

I'd be curious to know when these communites became popular. I wonder if the first ones were started by the same folks who were the most intrigued by those early Cessna ads.

Someday, I think, I would like to own my own. At least start flying again. My "flight of fancy" seats me in a P-51. I mean, I don't have to own one of these, but a ride would be magnificent. I've wondered if the two best days in an airplane owner's life are like the boat owner - the day he buys it and the day he sells it.

What say you, Andykev?

Cab

 

[scotrace]

The enormous fantasy

Men are boys at heart (with no disrespect to women, but this stuff was aimed entriely at the male HOH), and I can't believe they'd let complexity stand in the way of the excuse to own and pilot a small plane. Maybe it's as simple as lack of storage and airstrip space, as you say Cabinetman.
The Esquire article "So You Want To Learn to Fly?" repeated several times that the "new, modern" aircraft were so well balanced and simple to fly that they wouldn't spin unless forced into it, and if they did, they'd self-correct. That may be a lot of hooey. I still think that a guy would jump at the excuse. "Honey, it's the coming thing. You'd like to be able to fly out to Scottsdale to see your mother once a month wouldn't you? I beats taking a week to drive it. Imagine... we'd get there at 100 miles per hour!"

Practicality may have killed it. No room for a hangar on your property means it becomes like a boat only even more inconvenient, as you can't bring the plane home and stash it in the garage. You can't tote it home on the bed of a trailer, so it has to stay at an airport hangar someplace.
Still. It should have happened.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

The reality of the situation is flying takes a lot of work, throw in bad weather and the fact that if you get in over your head, you can find out how fast things can really get scary real quick.

In the 40's the majority of light aircraft were tail dragger's that required a good bit of skill to land. (Some a good bit more than others, like a Luscombe)

The one practical stall and spin proof airplane, the Ercoupe, was a nice little puddle jumper for putting around the area, but if you got a license in one, you were limited to flying just that aircraft.

When reality set in, along with wholesale govt. aircraft contract cancellations, the post W.W.II aviation boom, quickly went bust.

Of course we don't have the jet packs that were predicted for the 2000's either.

 

[Andykev]

What makes an airplane fly? Money. Forget science.

Sure makes me miss it, Scott! Boo hoo for me, I haven't flown in probably 8 years. Professionally, it didn't pan out, and as a hobby, too expensive. ... I've wondered if the two best days in an airplane owner's life are like the boat owner - the day he buys it and the day he sells it.

What say you, Andykev?

Cab

I say that after 31+ years of being a pilot (having soloed at age 16), and having owned a Cessna, and now partnership in a Beechcraft...and gas at $4 per GALLON and of course tie down, maintenance, insurance, mandatory service bulletins and airworthiness directives, radio upgrades.......I have been on a "break" from flying for over a year. Lack of motivation, other issues, and so on.

Happpiest was buying? Yep. And I was a LONG time member in flying clubs, and flew air "races" (Time Speed Distance), up and down the West Coast, to the Grand Canyon (you used to be able to fly down in it - we didn't that is stupid if an engine fails), to flying a Cessna 320 Turbo Twin (sucks 40 GPH per engine at takeoff power), to those $100 hamburger flights.

Happiest selling? Well, lately I have thought about "praticality". Bills come fly or no fly. It is hard to let it go, if I come to that point.

 

[zeus36]

Having seen more than a few references in wartime and post-war publications to the coming trend of personal aircraft, one wonders why it never "took off."

The killer of the flying family car:

Manufacturer's Liability Lawsuits

 

[scotrace]

The killer of the flying family car:

Manufacturer's Liability Lawsuits

In 1945?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Recently, the infrastructure for small aircraft was created in the US. Think of it as three dimensional tubes of space agreed upon and mapped out by computer.
The plan is that the future of air travel is not in gigantic carriers. Think of the recent victories of Boeing over Air Bus, as that Air Bus has chosen to build giant planes. Giant planes, of course, use more fuel and need upgraded runways.
Evidentally, for local flights and shuttles, very small planes will fly from local and convenient airports making flights from NYC to Atlantic City, or Boston to Springfield, feasible and convenient for everyone. Well, that's the plan, and we all know how plans go...
So, to answer your question, it is coming, sort of.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

In 1945?

Liability obviously wasn't an issue in 46-47.

The over optimistic projections for light aircraft were fueled in part by a large amount of cash on hand by a number of aircraft manufacturers, from W.W. II.

Combine that with the new GI bill, and the industry thought that there would be a abundant supply of ex-servicemen hungry to fly, and civilians with pent up cash from wartime shortages.

What some manufacturers didn't look at, were the number of surplus light liaison aircraft dumped on the market, as well as other transport aircraft that entered the non-sched. airline scene.

There quickly became a glut of surplus product, then ex-GI's began to drop out of civil flight training, either due to lack of skill, interest, or cash, combined to quickly burst the post-war bubble. (Add in the reality of owning and operating a light plane, & a brand new post-war family, and guess which priority is going to come first)

It's a interesting subject to look at, if you have a chance pop by your local library and see if they have old postwar copies of aviation magazines archived, you can see the story unfold for yourself.

 

[zeus36]

Opps, sorry !

I was thinking of the years to date.

We now have the technology, materials, computer sims, money, and innovations.

Manufacturers just won't step up into due to fear of lawsuits.

 

[Jake]

Happist selling?

Maybe for boat owers, but I think not for airplane owners....when financial needs require me to sell my airplane it will be a sad day indeed. To quote Jimmy Buffet, "My airplane is my insurance policey from a boring life". Jake

 

[Braxton36]

Can you imagine...

if this idea had taken off, what rush hour would have looked like... at the airport? Amazing concept and first I've heard of it!

 

[John in Covina]

Concequences of failure.

When you are driving a car and have problems you usually can pull over to the side of the road and wait or call for help.

Even in a boat whether with engine trouble or becalmed sails, you can still float.

When flying a powered aircraft problems can result in landings you don't walk away from.

Private aircraft use in California is pretty high and you hear or see reports of crashes practically every week and often there are no survivors.

 

[Zepp]

Back in 1997 I fulfilled a lifelong dream and earned a private pilots license. After logging about 100 hours I also came to the realization that I couldn't really justify the costs.

If you have a problem with too much money, flying for fun will solve it for you.

 

[CWetherby]

My opinion is that, once home from the war, everyone just wanted to settle down and try to have the life they had put on hold for the duration. That meant school, jobs, families, kids, HOUSING (which was a problem due to extreme shortages at the time) and trying to forget the awful realities of years of combat. I can just see the "girl next door", having just gotten her soldier home and a ring on her finger, saying, "Oh, sure, Honey, lets get a dangerous airplane. Your being gone for 4 years and in constant danger wasn't enough excitement for me!" Not!

Also remember that the target market for airplanes consisted of adults who had grown up during the Depression, the majority of whom would find it difficult, for the rest of their lives, to spend money in even a slightly frivolous way.

I can't help but think that the mid-50's might have been a good time to push for the family personal aircraft, as opposed to the mid-40's.

Not that I don't think it would have been a great idea! Think how much more of the world we would have all seen, if our grandparents had had airplanes and were accustomed to lots of travel....

 

[Jake]

I just got back from flying my Varga to the Florida Keys and back. Quite a trip from Wisconsin in a small plane. What an adventure flying across the everglades and the ocean on one engine and no floats. Some times you just have say the heck with the cost and live a little....Jake

 

[scotrace]

An idea that still may fly

I don't know how long this link will last - but there's a modern personal "air scooter" coming on the market soon:

CNN: Air Scooter to Solve Traffic Congestion Problem?

 

[Old Timer]

I just got back from flying my Varga to the Florida Keys and back. Quite a trip from Wisconsin in a small plane. What an adventure flying across the everglades and the ocean on one engine and no floats. Some times you just have say the heck with the cost and live a little....Jake

Hello fellow Wisconsonite! Sounds like a fun airplane adventure. I hope to be able to do the same some day!