Agree with most of what has been said. Certainly, and speaking with an European perspective, overregulation is the largest and most effective killer, combined with a lot of folks' idea that GA is to blame for everything from noise to airport congestions and we pilots are all rich and spoilt brats who don't know how to trash our money so we spend it going up in airplanes with creature comforts which went out of fashion with the Trabant.
I know, I know, it makes me mad every time I hear it, but there is nothing harder to kill than prejudice. And since our politicians keep fueling this, we see the result in a runaway bureaucracy of knitwits who seem to think that new pilots for the airlines will be trained as direct entry 737 or 320 FO's without having set a foot into a C150 to train the basics first, so why not do away with the bothersome lawnmowers?
Flight schools are hard pressed to get people to at least have a go. Most do it by promising the prospect of a life in the airlines, which comes true for very few of the candidates. Some are still too blasé to actually think a pure PPL candidate is worth their time, they want those willing and able to shell out 200k for an ab initio ATPL/MCP/whateverelse. Leaves the PPL's for the clubs and those FTO's who don't do more or actually still do it for the love of it. Both often enough will go to great lenghts to entrice their potential clientele with pictures we all know from Cigar commercials.
IO540, your remark about the appeal that GA has to most women and the deviastating result on prospective PPLs who thought being a flying hero will open some doors made me chuckle. Thankfully my wife loves flying in our Mooney, but there are overwhelming odds that if you take the lady of your fancy to the apron they'll steer right to that G V and will run as fast as their high heels allow once they spot they are supposed to enter a 1960's PA28, never to be seen again. Some may be happier if you point them to a Stearman or something like this, but in reality, for most of the womenfolk not infected with the flying virus themselfs, our propeller planes of today (possible exceptions the latest sexy curve Cirrus/Corvalis or Diamond models or cabin class twins) will have about the same appeal as if you turn up on your first date with a 1972 Lada.
So the drop outs would be in many cases easy to spot before they ever set foot on an airplane. Nervous wrecks, would be playboys, over-eager underachievers are the daily bread in aviation. Many who actually have the brains, composure and character go for more lukrative careers these days, others will hang up because they run out of money, motivation and the missus has brought up the "aeroplanes or me" card shortly after spending the third weekend in sequence without their supposedly better half.
On the other hand, I do hear some frightening tales of REALLY dedicated folks who get laughed out of the FTO's office even before their first evaluation flight by the pure mention of the fact that they've been flight simmers for a few decades. Heck, when will flight schools (and even airlines and ppruners) wake up to the fact that aviation these days can really do with some REALLY dedicated supporters, who often enough have spent more on their virtual hobby than some might ever spend on real life aviation? Most of these folks are dedicated to flying-period. No dreams of getting that D-cup beauty laid in a C150, no irrational folks who look at flying as a means to achieve a totally different end. IF these guys are finally taking the plunge and make a step towards getting licensed, they should be received with open doors and treated with the same respect any customer warrants, even if a few bad habits need to be trained out of them.
I had the great fortune to learn before the time of EASA/JAR, the Internet, and regulators who see airplanes as something best grounded for security reasons. Aviation has been my career, on the ground and in the air and I am still passionate enough about it to put up with all the crap we have to deal with sufficiently to own and operate my own aircraft. If we want to get more real pilots rather than wannabes-become-dropouts then I reckon we'd be well advised to be looking out for those who are into it all for the sake of flying rather than something inachievable else.
And, most importantly, we need to make our regulators see the light that flying is, after all, not a professorate in a kazillion of useless subjects but a very basic and instinctive skill, which needs to have a practical and theoretical formation to teach us to fly, not become aviation experts. We do need, especcially in Europe, come back to an affordable and realistic training syllabus and therefore achievable instrument ratings and CPL's at a cost a normal person can afford. We have to be able to maintain our planes to a high standard without paying EASA $$$£££ for each bolt changed in the sunshade resulting in affordable rental and ownership. Eliminating the financial dropouts may well be the foremost goal but that can only be achieved if the regulators finally realize it is aviation they serve and not the opposite.
Best regards
AN2 driver.
Last edited by AN2 Driver; 13th Nov 2010 at 07:01.
Reason: added last paragraph