A Story Of Unbelievable (cheap flights) Persistence
No commentsBy Saleem Rana
Dick and Jay sat on the ground outside the shed. The rain pelted down on them. They stared in disbelief at the lake of mud all around them. The Piper Cub slumped in the mud a few feet in front of them. Neither a wet bird nor muddy squirrel could be seen.
“It’s going to be like this for some time,” said Jay, gloomily, “according to the weather report.”
Dick feebly told the joke about the weatherman who left town because the weather didn’t agree with him–but neither of them laughed. The rain fell without remorse.
“Boy, boys, boys,” said a beautiful woman with auburn hair. She had a fresh complexion. She wore a wet, slightly muddy, mauve dress. She sat down between them, covering them with her pink umbrella.
Dick kissed his wife on the cheek. He reached down into the vanilla box for his sandwich. The box tumbled out of his hands and landed in a puddle. It floated.
“That’s it,” shouted Jay. He grabbed Dick’s elbow. “Don’t you see- that’s it!”
It only took a day to add the inflated pontoon boats to the Piper Cub. Now instead of wheels, it had floats. Now, instead of the muddy runway, they used the river.
But another calamity awaited: a lightning storm. A bolt of lightning struck the hut, shattering it.
Without an office, it was hard to run operations.
Dick, however, found a solution. He bought a chicken coop from the farmer down the road for $25.
“One last yard,” said Dick, talking to the old mare. The mare grunted as it dragged along the chicken coop.
After propping up the chicken coop, Dick began whitewashing it.
“There,” said Dick, slapping on the last coat.
He stepped back to join his wife, Doreen, and his partner, Jay. All of them admired the bright chicken coop. It proudly bore the blue legend “Wolverine Air Service.”
“Soon,” said Dick, “Millions will be flying their own planes. They’ll come to us and we’ll teach them.”
“And it only cost us $200 to get this Piper Cub,” added Jay.
“Airplanes will swarm the air, the way cars do the ground,” predicted Dick.
Just then a freckled-faced young man came up to them.
“Is this your school?” he asked, squinting at Dick.
“Have you come for lessons?” asked Dick.
“Darn right!”
“We’d love to teach you, but we don’t know how to fly!” confessed Dick.
A few days later, however, they found a flight instructor. Dick straightened out the sheaf of papers on his ramshackle desk as the last interviewee walked out of the shack. He looked over at Jay. “Well?” Jay nodded. “I like him.”
“Then we have a new flight instructor,” said Dick, smiling broadly.
The next day, Dick and the new flight instructor stood outside the chicken coop office.
“How are you going to pay me?” asked the flight instructor, a tall man with thick dark hair and brilliant blue eyes.
“Cash,” said Dick, unruffled.
“But you said a moment ago that you don’t have any money?”
“I don’t,” confirmed Dick, “but they do.”
The flight instructor turned around to follow Dick’s finger. He had to chuckle. On the edge of the field was Jay whooping in a group of three eager students, all trussed up in flight gear. They were wet to their thighs from wading across the river.
“They’ll be the first to graduate,” affirmed Bob, the new flight instructor.
This is the story of Richard M. DeVos and his high-school buddy, Jay Van Andel, who came home after the Second World War convinced that the aviation business would be the trend of the future.
The Success Principle
The only limits are those that you set up for yourself. Limited thoughts create limited people.
Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this
article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or
newsletter. It’s a shareware article.
Watch Your Career Take Off - Get An Education In Aviation!
By John Morris
Is it your dream to become a pilot? Have you always wanted to take to the skies, to feel the freedom that eagles and hawks enjoy all the time? This could be the start of something big for you.
1. Evaluate Your Skill Level
Are you a college graduate or not? This is a vital issue for you since most airline companies give a lot of bearing on a potential pilot’s academic proficiency as well as overall good physical and mental well-being. This is perfectly understandable on their part since they will be giving their pilots total command of a multi-million dollar aircraft. They would rather have one of these at the hands of a competent and capable pilot who can make crucial decisions during critical situations rather than someone who may be less proficient and easily loses composure whenever stressfull circumstances arise.
2. Plunging Into Unfamiliar Territory
By becoming a pilot you are subjecting yourself to a life that most often than not is always on the go. Expect work schedules that can last from two to even six days of continuous flights. Even holidays will not give you any reprieve. At the same time, however, this provides you with the opportunity to travel to distant lands here and abroad. This is as near as you can be from being a man of the world. It poses an exciting and fun career but on the other hand, its very nature can cause problems if you have a family that may have a hard time coping with your perpetually changing schedule.
3. Search For Your Ideal School
Looking for your ideal school can be exciting and enjoyable. Consider factors like the reputation of a school. Does it offer up-to-date flight programs? Is it in partnership with airline companies? Look at the competitive edge of your potential flight school. Make sure these aviation schools to measure up to your expectations.
- Location, Location, Location
Geography has a key role in your education because the time you will spend in the air learning to operate an aircraft will largely depend on the location’s weather. If foul weather abounds in the area that covers the site of your flight school, chances are that you will spend more time in the classroom learning about theories rather than learning it firsthand through experience.
- Be On Budget
Admittedly, enrolling in flight school is a costly endeavor. Much of the expenses of the course is related to your accumulation of flying hours. If you are limited by a tight
budget and you want to get the best aviation school education you can get, then consider joining the army. All your educational expeses will be paid for by the government and at the same time, you will be getting a first-rate education from very capable instructors. An important thing to take note of if you are thinking of joining the army is that they have a mandatory commitment time which lasts for a few years (you didn’t think you’ll get off the hook so easily, did you?). After that, you are free as a bird and can now proceed to jumpstarting your professinal career.
- Stay The Course
Your short-term goal is to get into a good aviation school and learn the basics. The next step, which will be your mid-term goal, is to acquire the necessary certificates and accumulate the required number of hours that will ensure you will land a job in a highly-regarded airline company.
- Be A Role Model
Like it or not, your ideal position is extremely competative, and companies will be looking not only at your credentials but also your personal character. Join organizations that promote good values and exemplify leadership, integrity, and responsibility.
- Stay Up There
Your learning should not stop after getting your certificates and earning your flight hours. Check out aviation magazines as well as journals. Use the internet, a lot of information can be gathered online and this will be beneficial for your professional growth.
For more great aviation related articles and resources check out http://www.flightschoolhq.com
IS THE TIME RIGHT - AIRCRAFT OWNERSHIP
By gennew05
In the hours and days immediately following the tragic attacks on America of 9/11, there was much speculation about the effects on the general aviation industry. While the events of September 11, 2001 have had a significant impact on the economy as a whole, sales of personal aircraft in Michigan have experienced a surprising boost. Certainly, the convenience of personal transportation has played a major role in this increase as airport lines and security have become more time consuming. The reduction of flights resulting from the airline cost-cutting have limited flexibility for the business person and affected the productivity of companies relying on commercial transportation.
These factors alone cant explain surge of people joining the flying community for more than just pleasure. Rebates, low and 0% interest rates, training allowances, and yes, even the IRS played a role in creating an environment that has introduced more people to the benefits of aircraft ownership and had an effect similar to that seen after the passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1995.
The IRS is here to help you? Well, believe it or not, a new tax law passed earlier this year represents a renewed attempt by our nations leaders to jumpstart the economic recovery. The bill applies to new airplanes acquired after September 10, 2001, and before September 11, 2004, and provides tax savings from economic stimulus provisions included in the Internal Revenue Code designed to encourage investment in capital assets. Visit your local airport and youre sure to see plenty of forty and fifty year old aircraft operating for both business and pleasure. Even prior to the new tax law, Congress recognized that capital investment is an important part of our economy, and therefore allowed a five year depreciation of these assets. To further encourage investments, they do not require the depreciation to be spread evenly over the five years, but through a concept know as double declining balance, greatly accelerate depreciation during the first two years of ownership. Now with the additional incentives of 30% bonus depreciation on new airplanes, tax deferral opportunities are greatly expanded.
So how might a business person benefit from these new changes? First of all, the impact of these depreciation changes greatly reduce net cash investment for the purchase of a new airplane. Specifically, an operator in the 40% tax bracket who can successfully write off his aircraft ownership expense may have no cash investment in the airplane during the first four years. Additionally, when properly structured, many taxpayers have an opportunity to convert personal use into business use. The Internal revenue code provides an optional method of taxing an individual for personal use of an aircraft which many times amounts to less than 10% of the actual deductions flowing from the investment. Consult your tax professional prior to purchasing your new airplane or ask your Aircraft Dealer for the name of an Aviation Tax Specialist to set up your purchasing entity.
And you say youre not a pilot? Local aircraft dealers like Suburban Aviation, Inc. in Lambertville, Michigan will actually teach you to fly your new airplane and even reimburse your expenses when you purchase a new Cessna airplane from them. Most of todays pilots learned to fly in a Cessna airplane and the majority of these pilots continue to experience the freedom and flexibility that flight offers in one of Cessnas many single engine models. For 75 years, Cessna has been the leader in general aviation aircraft providing a safe and reliable alternative to commercial airlines and the automobile.
So if your business can benefit from improved efficiency and tax savings, why not consider a company airplane? There are few tax saving opportunities as effective as fully depreciating an aircraft on a five year accelerated basis, and with todays interest rate environment, a well-structured transaction often results in little or no after tax cash flow holding costs during the early years of ownership. Of course, arriving at your meeting on time and with all your luggage can also be pretty convincing!
Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to aviation, do please browse for more information at our websites.
http://www.aviation.infozabout.com
Popularity: 51% [?]
Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm and is filed under aviation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.