A number of interesting points here.
We could for ever argue about the % of the various factors but I would add some bigger ones to why people (students and post-PPLs) drop out:
- they just wanted to tick the 'learnt to fly' box
- the lack of 'scenery' (women) makes it a lousy activity choice for a single bloke, given how time consuming a hobby it is (single men are almost constantly 'looking' and have to choose any time- and money-consuming activites carefully)
- a lot of very young jobless pilots are doing it from a gift of money and when that runs out...
Have to agree with IO540's points above, I can certainly relate to the second one. The number one issue however still has to be cost. It's not just fuel/rental costs but all the other things that add up, maintenance, insurance, landing fees, club fees, silly CAA charges for licenses, renewals etc. Especially in these difficult times when everybody wants their pound of flesh from you - the taxman, gas, leccy, mortgage, the supermarket etc. - keeping a roof over your head and food in the freezer is of much greater need than a quick hour on a Saturday morning in the club spamcan. Not many folk can justify up to £150/hr when the mortgage/rent/gas needs paying.
Also post-PPL things change. At my club the instructors are quite good at encouraging folk to go beyond local jaunts, however many folk get caught in the trap of doing a quick hour in the local area and do nothing else. Hence ennui and tedium sets in, the end result is people give up. Unfortunately to avoid doing so we run into the money problem again. Doing trips costs £££. Landing fees, parking fees, B&B, fuel... or if you decide to do an IR, aeros course, complex checkout, multi, again the wallet takes a hammering.
Then there are the rules and the red tape. JAR/EASA is a nightmare that would drive the calmest of saints to dispair. Why do you need to renew your license every 5 years at considerable cost? Why is an IR for private owners so rediculously unaffordable and over-engineered to the same standards for commercial pilots flying 757s? Why is maintenance and the associated costs and paperwork so onerous compared with FAA-land? Etc. Ad Nauseum.
Until such problems are addressed, the numbers will continue to dwindle.
Smithy