Hi all,

I was browsing an avaition forum and came across a post about the current state of General Aviation. There was a report that stated that there was only 600,000 pilots today compared to 827,000 in 1980. It got me wondering how many simmers are real life pilots or want to be. There were various reasons discussed about why people have seemingly lost interest in becoming a pilot, the most popular reason being the costs involved. Others believed that younger people just don't see flying as "cool" anymore or that video games are actually to blame or that all the goverment regs scare people off. If you fall into the "Yes, but... other" category in the poll, please list the reasons why.

I'd love to get all the simmer's here to participate in the poll. The results could be interesting.

Thanks!

Interesting poll. I think one of the biggest hurdles is the price. It cost me about $6000 to get my license back in 1988 when I was in college. I can’t imagine what it cost today. I flew Helicopters in the Army back in the late 80's, early 90's. I never made it to the end of Flight school because my eyes just couldnt adjust to the night vision googles and haven’t flown helicopters since. I got back into fixed wing for a short while in the early 90's, but Today I don’t fly much anymore. just too expensive. Plus, now I have to put away for my sons college education, mortgage, insurance etc.. Luckily, my brother got his license and bought a plane, so I get to fly with him once in a while.

I haven’t been hurt hard by the recession, but know a lot of people who have, and that does not help General aviation. In addition, a lot of small airports have been pushed aside by local municipalities because of noise and large airports overcrowding the skies.

When I grew up, my dad had a Piper Comanche at Flushing airport in Queens. It was a poorly paved short runway surrounded by apartment buildings. Landing there was very scary. It seemed we were just scraping the top of the apartment buildings and then dropping it in onto the poorly maintained and often flooded runway! It was also only about 2 miles from LaGuardia and there were a few close calls over the years. After a small plane went down in a residential house nearby, Mayor Beam at the time, shut it down. Now it’s just waste land and abandoned hangers are all thats left. Such a Pitty!

If you haven’t already seen it, Watch the documentary "16 right". They talk a lot about the challenges facing General aviation today. Very informative and great photography too.

Rob

It's just too expensive.

I’m sure the cost is the biggest issue. And that will vary greatly on how many hours it takes you to complete your training and pass your checkride. The minimum is 40 hours, but it took me 110. I've always wondered what the average is. I’ve heard that the average time to get your license in the SF Bay Area is 100 hrs. I’m not sure how/why it differs from training in other places (since I haven’t completed flight training anywhere else), but I would guess it has to do with weather (lot’s of wind/fog here certain times of the year) and the complexity of the air space (2 class C and 1 class B airports with airspace all overlapping each other). Or maybe the instructors here have different standards. I really don’t know.

I know I can’t imagine having been comfortable about passing my checkride with less than 60-80 hours.

The Light Sport Aircraft category and Sport Pilot license were supposed to lower the bar for entry into GA, but while there is a few sub-100K USD LSA offerings on the market, the most LSAs available are in the 100K-180K range, not drastically cheaper than their fully fledged brethren. Of course you can find plenty of sub-100K non-LSA planes, but only used, and you never know how much their maintenance is going to cost in the long run. Partial ownership is supposedly great for lowering the cost of flying, but you have to find somebody you will trust with a significant financial investment.

I got my license back in 2004 after 65 hours, flying out of KWVI (Watsonville) in Monterey Bay area. My CFI told me I was ready at 55, but I didn't feel ready. Everybody has a different comfort level and different aptitude. Since the airport is almost right on the coast, the weather was often a factor.I can imagine that getting your license in the SF Bay Area would take longer too, due to all the congestion and weather.

The specter of user fees keeps hanging over us, particularly in these challenging economic times, but I really hope we won't follow Europe in this regard. The hobby is expensive as it is. I hope to be able to buy an LSA in a few years. I haven't flown recently since there are more pressing financial needs.

The first place I took my wife when I got my license was to lunch at Zuniga's at KWVI.

I rent, so the cost of buying a plane doesn't affect me directly. But, at $140/hr wet, renting ain't cheap either...

Well, I started flying in 1975. About 30 dollars an hour, if I remember correctly. If I wanted to start today, I'd have to forget about it.
A sold my airplane last year, and with renting at 127 bucks an hour...well , like I said, forget about it. I don't fly anymore.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys! If you are a pilot, please do mention if you're still flying or not and it not, why.

I got my PPL back in 2005, but didn't fly for the last couple of years. Just got my BFR and will start instrument training soon, but at $196 an hour for the plane and instructor, it may cost more than my PPL did! I am fortunate to not have much debt, no kids (yet) and both the wife and I have good jobs. If we had a family or made any less, I couldn't keep it up. I am looking into clubs or partnerships as that seems to be the most pratical and affordable way to fly often.

I pay $250 an hour in Canada I am young but it was my dream to fly and before my Mom passed away she said don't give up. SO that and my love of aviation makes it worth it.

I have dreamed with that since I was a kid.

I ended up paying about $10,000(AUS) back in the 80's to get my CPL (Now expired) and the endorsements that I wanted, which included aerobatics.

My 2 favourite aircraft were sold by the people that used to hire them to me, and that put me on the back foot a little. Recently went down to the airport with my wife, with the intentions of getting my currency back, but have run into a couple of issues:

1. Somewhere on my wordly travels, I have lost my log book but, a lot of my time can be verified by CASA (equivalent to the FAA).

2. Cost. Has now increased to about $250p/h for a PA28-161 wet. Problem is, I refuse to pay, not because I cannot afford it, but on principle......where I usually fly from (Jandakot airport, YPJT) is a fairly busy training airport here in WA, but hardly any of the operators have purchased new aircraft. I don't want to be paying a fee like that for an aircraft that is nearly as old as me. They seem to think these things can fly forever. I had a nose gear collapse on me in a -161 because of lack of maintainance.

Now, if somebody sports out and buys some new, modern GA birds, I will get my foot in again, but up until that happens, too expensive for what you're getting.

Does a GPL licence count? Made it in 2009. At least flying gliders is fanstastic and not such expensive.
I´m far away from lost the interest to become a pilot and I startet my PPL-H (I´m fascinated about helicopters) at the end of last year. Yeah, it`s very very expensive (360€ per hour on R22 and 460€ with IP) and I don`t know how many hours I will take after I get the licence.....though I like it sooo much and who knows what the future will bring to us.

I can understand that. The flight school I use for rentals has C172's with the G1000. If they were older, there's no way I'd pay $148 an hour. I flight club about 45 minutes from where I live has several planes and the most expensive is about $130. No glass cockpits there though.

Sure. It's not as expensive as powered flight, but it probably still counts as an expensive hobby. I've thought several times about trying gliders. Maybe I'll do that this year and see if it scratches my flying itch!

I'm playing ~ $140/hr for a C172SP with GPS, but no glass cockpit.

Licensed pilot here. Commercial license. High performance/complex, tailwheel, aerobatic endorsed SEL. Luckily I got into it at such a young age so I can afford to spend a lot of money on flying. I'm also very fortunate to be able to fly some airplanes at an extremely discounted price. It pays to hang out around the airport. Got my license when I was 17 and I'm now 20.

Plan: A fairly well-paid job in engineering, a small apartment, no family and no payware enhanced flight simulators...so that I have enough € left a month to blow it on a PPL (~8000€) and collecting hours and maybe one day expand it into an ATPL (~90000€).

I could probably get a private certificate easy enough.. I mean it's not exactly cheap but I could eventually come up with the money and the time to do it. My biggest problem is that I don't think I'd ever be happy enough to be flying in a Cessna 172.

Don't get me wrong I've actually flown the 172 a couple of time unofficially.. include two takeoffs and a landing.. and it was a thrill but I want to get into the big jets or helicopters and fly commercially - and that's where it really starts to cost big bucks which I just don't have.

You want to be a pilot?

Don't get married, don't have kids, don't have pets.

I learned to fly when I was 16 in 1985. Of course I wasn't writing the check but it was far cheaper then. My best friend at the time flew 3 times a week and supported a family as a bread truck driver. (He also happened to be the most natural pilot I ever knew.) I fly professionally now and feel deep concern for the future of both the profession and the hobby. We in the U.S. used to feel sorry for our friends in Europe and Asia. There, flying was only for the rich and even the rich had to deal with the multitude of restrictions unimaginable to those of us swooping down on corn fields here. Well now there is precious little difference. But if you can afford it and if you can put up with the hassle, there is nothing like it. It just might be one of the most perfect professions ever imagined by man.

So True!!


Rob