NY Times Story on Pilot Population Decline

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:49:09 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

On Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:11:26 -0400, "Roger (K8RI)"
wrote in
:

[Detailed financial and hours-worked historical analysis refuting the
notion of the more recent increase in working hours and lower salaries
as a possible cause of the decline in aviation entrants snipped]

I think the most important item is missing from this analysis. The
article also noted that the current generation appears to have an
aversion to risk and the general population views general aviation
right in there with Bungee jumping or jumping the Grand Canyon with a
motorcycle. IOW the conclusion which he stated in the article was we
may be, in general, raising a generation of cowards who want to be
protected and shy away from pursuits associated with risk.

Just stop and think of how many people you know have made remarks
about either how risky flying is, or how they worry about you flying.
How many have had to give up flying due to girlfriend, wife, or
family?

There is no question that fear plays a role in flying whether it's
airline or personal, with the latter provoking a response several
orders of magnitude greater than the latter. However, I doubt that
there are studies that show an _increase_ in cowardice in GenX. I
sure hope it's not true. Did you find any supporting information for
that notion that you can cite?

The only place I've seen it stated in that fashion, or manner was the
article. OTOH today people do *seem* to want to be protected more
than in the past with government responding with "feel good"
legislation. There have been a number of articles about today's
society being much more sensitive to, and emotionally affected by
disasters, much of which has been attributed to instant news and
saturation about such events. We've had larger school disasters such
as the Bath School disaster (Bath Michigan 1921) and larger terrorist
actions (Black Wall Street 1927- death toll of over 3,000) than in
recent times. However that terrorist action was domestic rather than
foreign.

Each generation has believed they lived in a time of heightened danger
and fear. I grew up with "the bomb". Today we have international
terrorism which causes me very little worry. I'd gladly accept a bit
more risk for the return of the freedoms we had prior to 9/11.