Why People Quit…
I’d tend to agree with most of the points raised above. There will always be the ‘box tickers’ who want to achieve particular challenges, then move on to the next one. Good on ‘em, they help to play for the infrastructure that the rest of us use.
There is also the boredom argument, in that time between completing the PPL and finding out what sort of flying you enjoy. The problem is that you need to build the experience to be confident to do the more interesting things like touring or aeros or strip flying. As mentioned in posts above, there are interesting things to do while accumulating the experience, if only exploiting the Pilot / Flyer / Today’s Pilot freebie landings.
Beyond the technical challenge, probably the best thing about flying is the social side. Be that flying with other group members, trips with other members of an enlightened flying club, the local LAA Strut or the folks at the farm strip. I suspect many folk who give up spend their last few flying hours boring holes in the sky alone, wondering why they are doing it.
I’m sad to hear that the lack of welcome offered to nicnak Jnr is still around. I encountered the same thing in 1991. Several training organisations lost out on two lots of PPL training income, as my GF at the time was going to learn as well. After finding one eccentric outfit (Air South in the era of John & Jenny Pothecary), I happily completed the PPL and a bit towards the IMC before being lured in to the PFA / farm strip flying scene.
One of the things that will keep people flying is the involvement of partners, family members or friends. I’ve been lucky enough to find a partner who is interested to the point of having her own aeroplane. OK, meeting through aviation probably helped. The question we get asked at fly-ins is ‘Why do you bring two aeroplanes?’
Safe Flying,
Richard W.