Value in Aviation

Today I'd like to rant about what a ripoff most things in flying are.
I recently purchased some training material from King Schools, their Sport Pilot Instructor Checkride Course. $119 plus shipping and handling. I had it shipped by the cheapest method, $11 or so by UPS ground. That's a deal if you think about what it costs to move a pack of CDs across the country, it came from California.
I wait a week for my course to arrive. A box from King Schools was on my porch. I opened it up, and inside was the Sport Pilot Checkride Course, along with the packing slip, a commercial for Avemco insurance, two (count 'em, two) King Schools catalogs, some krinkled paper, and a pad of useless navlogs (Free! With your purchase of $49 or more!) that don't have proper space to perform wind correction calculations. A blank pad of paper would be more valuable to me.

Anyway, you may note that I got the wrong checkride course. And I'll give credit when it's due, I can see how the mistake happened. The course consists of a clear plastic bag, similar in construction to a potato chip bag, except made of celophane rather than mylar. Inside of this is one of those CD keep cases that resembles a DVD keep case except it's about an inch thick, and a copy of the PTS. The neat thing is that this print copy of the PTS deletes the Weight Shift Control and Gyroplane pilot and flight instructor portions, including just the airplane pilot and CFI sections. Sweet!
The keep cases are almost identical in appearance, the only difference being that one says "Sport Pilot" in the green circle on the front, the other says "Sport Pilot Instructor/FOI" on the front. Both cost the same, hell, I could have mixed them up. But I still had to call the company.
It rang three times and a gentleman picked up the phone. "Thank you for calling King Schools, this is Name, how may I help you?" I had to restrain myself from saying "Wow, a real person!" I told my story about getting the wrong thing, and he fast fed-exed me the correct thing. That was on Friday, it got here Monday.
Inside this keep case (I didn't open the incorrect package) are 6 CD-ROMs, which contain a simple bit of software that acts as a media player, playing several youtube quality videos, 2 or 3 of which appear on each disc. The videos show John King acting as a CFI-SP applicant, and he hired a f'real DPE (who just so happened to be wearing a NAFI shirt, I think because he's a higher-up in the organization) to act as the examiner. They did a what I think was a complete checkride, demonstrating the skills required of an applicant, and how to pass the checkride. Notably absent--although it's mentioned on the case--is any oral quizzing about the PTS, it's just a bunch of "how would you teach___?" Unless I somehow missed it.

***

Here's the problem I have. I bought a similar product last year from ASA, one that is equivilant to the course I was sent by mistake. It's a single DVD that covers the sport pilot checkride, by a man named Paul Hamilton, CFI/DPE. It plays in a normal DVD player, and shows Paul giving checkrides to various students, demonstrating what the checkride will be like. It came with a book, a rather comprehensive study guide that includes the checkrides for Airplane, Weight-Shift and Powered Parachute, plus Flight Instructor. DVD and book: $59.95 plus shipping and handling. It also got here correct and on time.

You wanna know the real ball biter? The King Schools set (twice the price of the ASA set) has a license agreement that basically boils down to "One set per person. Don't show it to your friends. Don't let your friends hear the audio. Don't pass Go. Don't collect $200." It has an "enrollment password" system which is basically a software activation code. The code that came with my set was--as if by magic--already taken. I had to call the company again by phone to even use the product I bought. Now I see why there were no used sets for sale on the internet.

Also, without breaking their license agreement and facing a lawsuit, I can't use this product as a teaching aid. When I pass the checkride, I might as well melt the discs. Paul Hamilton's disc says "No Unauthorized Use" at the beginning. I can use it as a teaching aid, as long as I don't start selling copies.

So, what I got was something that is twice as expensive as it could be, in a form factor that's worse than it could be, that's 4.7x10^27 times less useful in the future than it could be. I will be contacting both authors and making that point.

Do I regret buying the King Schools course? No, it's a helpful training aid which I have learned from and become a better educator and aviator. I regret paying 120 bucks for it though. I only bought it because it's the only one like it on the market that I found. I'm pretty sure I've made my last purchase from King Schools. It's like a $65,000 Honda Civic. It's good, it'll get the job done, but it costs way more than it should. Oh, and they send you the one you didn't order, you wait a weekend not driving the car you were sent by mistake, and when your car finally gets to your house, you have to call the company and ask why your key doesn't start the car.

Likewise, the PiperSport: Base model, $120,000; LT, $130,000. The difference in equipment? a $2,000 EMS, some of the cost of which is mitigated by the fact that it replaces several instruments you don't have to install. likewise, there's the LTD for $140,000, the difference between it and the LT is two $750 servos, wiring thereof, and two panel-mounted control blocks together costing $1,100. $1,850 worth of equipment can be yours for another ten grand.

Blogging about mildly irritating events is a nice, healthy way of dealing with life's little frustrations. It's better than a private journal because it's allegedly public; at least 2 perfect strangers have found it so far.