This thread seems like the other one here.
Lots of good points mentioned. But what's realistically going to get done?
There are things which could be done but won't be because almost nobody in the business has the money. Like getting modern planes (and then doing some imaginative marketing to attract people who can REALLY afford this hobby).
There are things which could be done but won't be because almost nobody in the business has the imagination. Like a lot of little things.
Perhaps the most obvious in the latter category is retaining (in the club) people who have their PPL.
Today, when you get your PPL, you are out on your own - unless the school/club reckon they can extract some more money from you for the NQ or IMCR. After which you are definitely out on your own for good, not least because you will have realised that most instructors don't fly anywhere so it's no use asking them how you could get to somewhere warm and sunny
And being on your own is pretty hard. I am an owner and apart from longer trips (business or long trips UK/abroad) I fly at least once a week just for currency. This costs a bit of money. I have a small group of friends, all IR types, who rent the plane. We support each other with a booking site, operating tips, etc, but apart from that we are totally on our own, outside the GA establishment. We do our flight planning at home or with wireless-enabled laptops.
Next is hire. I am sure most would agree that self fly hire is the worst way to stay current (it carries the highest possible marginal cost, the planes tend to be in the poorest condition, and take-away options are most limited) so the answer is a syndicate, or ownership. Yet few schools/clubs/instructors will encourage this because they want every possible last penny of your self fly hire money.
Even a simple change in the attitude to existing PPLs would do a lot. Provide them with support e.g. flight planning facilities, advice on trips, organise flyouts. The really really controversial thing would be to encourage students to fly with them!! Controversial because the schools wants every penny the student has to be spent on lessons.
A school/club (what's the difference?) should encourage PPLs to get into some sort of commitment (e.g. by selling off shares in their planes, in return for a lower hourly rate). Presently, PPLs that get into an ownership arrangement outside the school/club tend to not be encouraged to join in flyouts because schools like to make flyouts fully chargeable on each leg, and "people that come with a plane" might pinch some of the people who might otherwise have paid the self fly hire + instructor rate....
Lots of other little things that would help.
No use advertising a quality business, selling a £100/hr product, in a free local rag, because the people that read those are people who cannot afford to buy a real rag. Yet schools just love adverts in the free local papers. A great way to get birthday party pleasure flights from the local council estate, with enough body piercings to affect the W&B (sorry
but I've seen lots of those, and they always used to get priority before my prebooked lessons)
But this has been done to death here and elsewhere and nothing ever changes. Most people drop out; a very small % of "anoraks" stay behind and they form the social scene at airfields, which in turn ensures that the only people that stay are either anoraks (99% males - another way to destroy any potentially interesting activity), or those who have a real incentive to fly.
People entering this "sport" need to be told the real costs of getting a PPL, the need to get instrument qualified, the cost of keeping long-term current. And one needs to get a lot more girlz to come along! Nowadays, plenty of girlz have their own money!!
The more one writes on this the more one goes around in circles.
bose-x you timed your comment very well