NY Times Story on Pilot Population Decline

Larry Dighera writes:

Could it be that Americans are working longer hours?

That is certainly part of it. Americans work a lot harder than they used to,
and they are making less money in return (in constant dollars). The number of
people who just scrape by is much greater than it was 40 years ago, especially
in the withering middle class.

And is it possible that the increase in hours worked don't equate to
more disposable income?

Absolutely.

Forty years ago there was an affluent and very large middle class in the
United States that had the money and time for things like flying in many
cases. Today that class is vanishing.

The much smaller class of people who can afford to fly today may still be
discouraged by the tremendous barriers to entry into the hobby, as compared to
other hobbies. It is ridiculously difficult to become a private pilot, and
unless one is among the very tiny minority of people who are truly obsessed
with flying, there are many other hobbies that provide similar levels of
satisfaction for far less money and with far less hassle and red tape.

And although some will flame me for this, simulation still enters into the
picture. I note that the number of people interested in online simulation of
flight is greater in Europe than in the United States, and I think the main
reason for that is simply that it's even more difficult to become a private
pilot outside the USA than it is inside the USA. The more difficult it is,
the more likely people are to settle for simulation to satisfy an interest in
aviation, just as the cost and hassle of Formula 1 racing or the sheer
unlikelihood of being drafted onto a football team leads many people to
simulation.

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Marco Leon writes:

Yes, and yes. While I don't think that the reasons you mentioned are the
primary reasons, I do think they play a part. Salaries are indeed higher but
so are the housing prices. A "starter" house in Long Island, NY for example
is around $450K. Paying for that mortgage while bringing up a family leaves
little room to blow $7K on a year's worth of flight training.

Forty years ago, a "starter" house might cost 1.5 times the annual salary of a
person in the middle class. Now it may cost ten times the annual salary of
such a person (although the middle class is disappearing).

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Kyle Boatright writes:

I doubt that. What is happening is that people are spending their money
differently.

That is far less important than the fact that they simply don't have the money
to begin with.

I have a $100/month cable/internet bill. Plus a $50 cell phone
bill. Plus the maintenance, repair, and replacement expenses for 20
different devices in my home that people didn't have 50 years ago.

Add them all up and you'll find that it still doesn't cost anywhere near as
much as flying.

We have more discretionary income than before, we just spend it on day to day
conveniences and various iterations of the idiot box (TV, Computer, Gaming,
etc.)...

No, the income is actually worth less. Adjusted for inflation, discretionary
income is disappearing.

My personal theory is that flying is no longer the source of hero worship it
once was. Is there a current Lindberg? How about an Amelia Earhart? Maybe
a John Glenn? Not really. Flying has lost the public's imagination, and
therefore the publicity.

I think that very few people indeed are motivated to fly by hero worship.
People undertake hobbies because of a fundamental interest in the hobby, for
the most part, and not become some celebrity is interested in it.

And one reason we don't have aviation heroes any more is that aviation is much
more expensive than it used to be. Also, we have commercial flights every day
that exceed just about anything that can be done in a private plane, so there
aren't many records to break any more.

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Nathan Young writes:

The LSA industry certainly appears to be booming. Every flying
magazine I get has a new LSA listed each month. Most of the LSAs are
~$100k.

Flying magazines are perhaps not very objective sources of information.

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I've discovered that the harder you work the more he's got his hand
in my pants taking more of my hard earned efforts to come up with a
few extra bucks for flying.

Amen, brother. Until we, as a people, come to grips with this
completely out of control, tax-consuming, inefficient monster of a
government bureacracy that we've created, we will find our freedoms
and our income ever more diminished.

This isn't a Democrat or Republican thing -- this is a We the People
thing -- and we've GOT to do something about it, soon.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Mxsmanic wrote:
Kyle Boatright writes:

I doubt that. What is happening is that people are spending their money
differently.

That is far less important than the fact that they simply don't have the money
to begin with.

I have a $100/month cable/internet bill. Plus a $50 cell phone
bill. Plus the maintenance, repair, and replacement expenses for 20
different devices in my home that people didn't have 50 years ago.

Add them all up and you'll find that it still doesn't cost anywhere near as
much as flying.

For $150 you can easily rent a C-172.

--
Jim Pennino

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Mxsmanic wrote:
Nathan Young writes:

The LSA industry certainly appears to be booming. Every flying
magazine I get has a new LSA listed each month. Most of the LSAs are
~$100k.

Flying magazines are perhaps not very objective sources of information.

So all those ads are false advertising?

Quick, call the Feds.

--
Jim Pennino

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"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Marco Leon writes:

Yes, and yes. While I don't think that the reasons you mentioned are the
primary reasons, I do think they play a part. Salaries are indeed higher
but
so are the housing prices. A "starter" house in Long Island, NY for
example
is around $450K. Paying for that mortgage while bringing up a family
leaves
little room to blow $7K on a year's worth of flight training.

Forty years ago, a "starter" house might cost 1.5 times the annual salary
of a
person in the middle class. Now it may cost ten times the annual salary
of
such a person (although the middle class is disappearing).


Then someone is buying way too much house!

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Marco Leon writes:

Yes, and yes. While I don't think that the reasons you mentioned are
the primary reasons, I do think they play a part. Salaries are indeed
higher but so are the housing prices. A "starter" house in Long
Island, NY for example is around $450K. Paying for that mortgage
while bringing up a family leaves little room to blow $7K on a year's
worth of flight training.

Forty years ago, a "starter" house might cost 1.5 times the annual
salary of a person in the middle class. Now it may cost ten times the
annual salary of such a person (although the middle class is
disappearing).

Good thing you live in a dumpster then huh?

bertei

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

Oh quit whining and go get a job you moron. If people want to fly, they can
fly. Perhaps a little less than for the same relative money 20 years ago,
but it hasn't changed that much.