Several good points have been made about how other lifestyle choices
interfere with and compete for a potential students time and income. A
thought that has been running through my head concerns the "Big Box Store
Generation's" fixation with immediate satisfaction without impediments nor
at the expense of anything else in their lives. Today's potential pilots
who have the money to spend on aviation want things NOW and they don't want
any new hobby to interfere in any way with their existing hobbies or
lifestyles.

If we dare mention to a potential student that he may have to drive a used
car for a couple extra years in order to afford flight lessons and/or that
it may take him as long as 6 months to get his PPL, many of today's
potential pilots counter with "wow, that's too much money and takes too way
long, I think I'll go buy a boat/motorcycle/race-car/ATV/big screen TV, I'll
keep it at home, and I can have it by 4pm today. Our worst competition is
this instant gratification mentality. Aviation takes more than money, it
takes time and dedication before satisfaction can occur. Today's Big Box
Store generation wants to skip the time and dedication part and simply trade
money for satisfaction.

Now.... what to do about it. A couple things come to mind.

First aviation is social and is largely based on sharing opportunities and
experiences with others. If we want to create more pilots, we need to
invite more people into the aviation. EAA and OSH are good examples of where
and how we can show a potential enthusiast what the aviation lifestyle
includes and that it isn't "just" flying. You might know someone who is an
awesome mechanic, author, novelist, painter, artist, teacher, photographer,
carpenter, mason, web designer, computer tech, etc etc AND they have shown
an interest in aviation... GET THEM INVOLVED!!! Show them where and how
they can add their skills and talents to their interest in aviation.
Aviation enthusiasts can breed more pilots than pilots alone! Look at all
the volunteers at OSH or at the EAA Museum. I've never once entered the EAA
Museum without a volunteer, mostly retired individuals, rush forward to ask
me if I've ever been to the Museum or if I know about the Young Eagles
Program. I almost feel bad telling them how often that we visit because it
cuts their speech short.... they live and breathe aviation enthusiasm and so
can YOU!

Next choose your victim, learn their abilities and their goals. Maybe you
know someone that just loves to hang out around airplanes but has no
interest or lacks the financial or physical ability to become a pilot. Next
time you need help with your plane or volunteer for an airport event, ask
this person to tag along. Introduce him to fellow pilots, your CFI, your
A&P, your Pilot's Association etc Nothing brings people to airports more
than people at airports. They all don't have to be pilots! Flying is
largely social. We ALL spend more time talking or typing about it than we
actually spend executing it. The next time you go to the airport, take
someone along.

If your friend has the interest and ability to become a pilot, of course
take him flying! But don't BORE HIM!!! Show him what you enjoy about
flying but leave him with a hunger for more! Make your flight short, don't
load him up on a 5 hour cross country when it's 95 degrees with light
turbulence and insist to him that flying is wonderful. He won't think so.
Leave him excited, happy, and hungry for more. Offer him back and the next
time he brings up the subject of aviation, immediately get him back to the
airport or take him flying with you. Once he's hooked, offer him your
assistance through the maze of ground instruction, testing, fight
instruction and flight tests. Make sure he knows that any person of average
intelligence and ability can become a private pilot. Make sure he knows
that it's a process made up of small but frequent steps leading to major
events. Offer individual and confidential help away from the airport
experts so your friend doesn't feel inadequate, unaccomplished, or stupid.
Offer him encouragement ALWAYS! Give him an audience to expound upon HIS
hanger flying stories. Cultivate both his ego and his yearning for
knowledge. Offer to loan him examples from your aviation library.

Include his/her spouse or significant other. Make sure this person knows
the ups and the downs and that their support and encouragement are CRUCIAL.
Make sure they both know the real world costs and timelines. Don't set
either of them up with unrealistic ideas only to have reality dash their
dreams. The significant other must support and encourage every effort and
accomplishment without a glairing eye of guilt for the financial costs.
Nothing can dash a student that is finally "getting it" faster than the
guilt placed upon him/her by a loved one saying "you've spent $$$ for what?"
With support from his/her friends and loved ones knowledge + hard work +
budget + realistic goals WILL = Success

Borrow Greg Brown's book "The Saavy Flight Instructor". It's not about how
to become or be a flight instructor, it's about how to survive AS a flight
instructor.... and behind most of his methods is an underlying theme.... how
do we bring more people into aviation?

Later, I've got to take someone to the airport.

Jim







"Jeff" jfranks1971 minus wrote in message
...
I'm a 10 year lurker in this newsgroup and, like most, time gets in the
way
of my flying and/or posting here. But after a week at OSH (missed the
party
AGAIN, but this time, I didn't wander around not finding it ) and a
newly
re-instated medical, I've been invigorated and am ready again to do this
thing we love.

...But I'm concerned. As many have pointed out, the number of pilots in
our
country is falling rapidly. My father and I flew into a monthly breakfast
at a nearby airport about a month ago. At 37 years old, I was one of the
youngest 10% of attendees. Most of the people there were 50-65 and the
remainder even older.

As I wandered around OSH, I made an effort to try to average out the ages
of
most of the people there. You had your kids and early teenagers that came
with Mom and Dad and occasionally a 20 yr old. But then there seemed to
be
a gap and again, the 35-40 yr olds started the pack again and it went up
from there.

Now, being 37, I know exactly why this is the case. I had the same
problems.
Family, career, kids, etc all get "in the way" and flying doesn't make it
in
the top ten list of things to spend a limited budget on. But I think what
we're starting to see happening is that flying isn't making it BACK into
the
budget once money and time become more available. Things like Harley
Davidson motorcycles, RV's, etc all seem more plausible to the masses than
flying....because we all know flying is a rich man's hobby...right? (said
in
jest...sorta).

So, why am I rambling on about the obvious? Here's why. I think groups
like EAA and AOPA need to come back to reality. The Poberezny's and Phil
Boyer have been rubbing elbows with the celebrities and the ultra rich
(e.g
Warbird owners) so long, they've forgotten that I had to borrow money to
buy
a $29k C172 and get bitched at everytime I have to pay for an annual.

I saved up my sweepstakes tickets from Sport Pilot and entered 30 of them
for the pretty new $190,000 Husky that the EAA was giving away. But, had
I
won it, I would have had to sell it to pay the $50k+ tax bill. Now, I
would
loved to have won and sold it to buy something I could afford, but the
point
is, they are trying to get "the average man" back into flying. Call me
crazy, but the "average man" doesn't spend $190k on an airplane.

I have probably 15 friends around my age that have told me that they "have
always wanted to fly, but just haven't because XXXX" XXXX might be
money,
time, fear, whatever. But money is usually the culprit. And most of them
have no real idea what it would cost. They just write it off as
something
they can't afford.

Again, what is my point? I dunno. I guess, I'm asking how do we do this?
How do we get the 40 year old's who always wanted to fly, but just never
had
time, money or gumption? We tend to really push hard on the young. We
have
great programs like Young Eagles to encourage kids to get into aviation,
but
now 15 years after that program was started, how many PPL's has it
generated? I'm not suggesting we stop YE, but I am trying to figure out
if
that is enough. Obviously, it's not. Would it be possible to have
EAA/AOPA
to give away "scholarships" to adults to get their license? If you
granted
them $10k each, the EAA could have given away 19 PPL Scholarships for the
money the Husky cost. I know that a $5k donation to my license fund would
have made me get in the air 10 years ago. I would think you could get
vendors and aviation suppliers to donate to the cause just like they do to
the giveaway aircraft. More pilots = More business.

I'm just trying to start a conversation here. I'm excited personally
about
my re-instated medical and getting back in the air, but at the same time,
I'm concerned that status quo isn't gonna cut it anymore.

Thoughts?

Jeff Franks
Summertown, TN