Flock1
Giving priority to "trial lessons" (pleasure flights really in most cases) is pretty standard. I have spent many hours waiting myself...
Whirly
Indeed - heli training is different. It does attract people with some money; I see that at my local airfield and there is an awful lot more million-quid helis than there are planes of even 1/10 of that value. But I don't think you get the army of traditionalists in the heli world which you get in the spamcan world. In the latter, whenever anyone suggests attracting some new money, 50 people jump up and very vocally express their concern that they will be priced out of their hobby. It is these attitudes which ultimately hold back fixed wing GA firmly in WW2 land and, as I keep on ranting on about, will result in its collapse leaving just the antique / microlight operators on farm strips.
FIS
It is possible to make the near-useless PA38 trim sort of usable but the operators won't pay for it. The problem is that it isn't a trim as such; I gather it is basically a spring pushing onto the yoke.