Funny you should mention this but...
The recent boom in SUVs, especially in the States, is really amazing for a display of the 'head in sand' approach to life practised by 'most people' and their politicians. Check out your average motorcade for lots of seriously large and shiny black wotsits, copied by the general public with, seemingly, no thought to what the fuel costs to run these monsters.
Ford, was it not, was just boasting about the biggest and heaviest SUV ever, as if this meant progress. A quirk in US legislation has these monsters set aside from the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) legislation, since they are classed as Utility Vehicles rather than private ones. Nice one, that! This has gone ignored just to keep the voters happy while they burn their way through the hydrocarbons like improvident children.
Then the oil companies happily jack up the pump prices without regard to the real cost increase per gallon, again with nothing much done by the politicians. I am sure this has nothing to do with the cash coming in as political contributions. Or the contributions in kind, either. Big Oil just has to stand in line when it wants something in a democracy, right?
Meanwhile, though, if you are in serious trouble, needing a quick trip to the hospital or hoisting out of a river, say, can you come up with an alternative to the helicopter? I would bet that the future for utility-type air vehicles is one of the most secure sectors to be working in. Air tours and such might take a hit but EMS and SAR will always be with us for the foreseeable future, so cheer up! When the end of the world is shown on the evening news the view will be coming from a news helicopter.
Given that I am F/W I wonder just where I can find a perch in all of this. I suspect that the mass tourism market may just go down like a big house of cards, when 'the great unwashed' all decide to stay home and grill weenies instead of flying off to Maui to do the same if they have to pay more than $99 per head. A lot of F/W is pretty disposable stuff in terms of its real necessity.