This one deserves more than one sentence.

You need 1500 hours to get an ATP. At $100 per hour, that's $150,000 just
for the minimum flying hours required to *take* the test. How much multi
time is required?

Now, think about the drop out rate among pilots. Jay Honeck started a thread
recently about the number of drop outs from flying. I would expect at least
50% of first time flyers do not get a private ticket.

The majority of the 1500 hours needed for an ATP is gained through
instruction. This instruction is funded by General Aviation. What would
happen if GA dissapeared from this training stream. What happens to the
number of qualified pilots? Does the FAA lower the standards? Do the
airlines begin training newly minted commercial pilots to become ATPs? That
would only cost them $125,000 each (assuming none drop out).

Any way you look at it, the elimination of GA would cause major problems for
the airlines.




"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news

Actually, GA subsidizes the airlines, by providing a pipeline for pilot
training.