THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER

The following is from the airport fact book, on the City of St. Clair website. 

“The airport provided, at best, limited value when it was built, currently provides absolutely no value, and has no credible indications of being of particular value at any point in the future other than being an additional and unnecessary place to land – for small, single-engine personal pleasure aircraft.”

The only value the airport has is a place to land – for small, single-engine personal pleasure aircraft.  This statement seems to make a point that small, single-engine personal pleasure aircraft are of little or no value, and the word pleasure was used to intensify that opinion.  Personal pleasure aircraft, it appears, are not a relevant and unimportant object of the airport situation, and therefore should not be considered a relevant industry.    (Keep in mind here this is from an individual with no aviation experience.)   

Let’s look at three words “personal pleasure aircraft”.  Now, let’s look at three similar words “personal pleasure boat”.  What would the value of the Lake of the Ozarks be if there was no water in it?  What value is there in the water of the lake?  What is the value of the PERSONAL PLEASURE BOATING at the Lake of the Ozarks? Must not be much, they are just for pleasure. 

If the value of personal pleasure aircraft is so miniscule how does a private airport like Creve Coeur come into the picture.  Yes Private, what is the economic value of Creve Coeur airport?  It can’t be much; it is mostly private personal pleasure aircraft.  Creve Coeur Airport is the base for many homebuilt aircraft, and what could that possibly account for?  Just the home built aircraft industry, people building a small, single engine airplane for personal pleasure in their garage or basement, is a 1.3 billion dollar a year industry.