GA is just way too expensive nowadays
I see a Queensland aero club hires out a 172 at $293/hour these days, but thought a comparison of what previously prevailed may tell a story.
Compared to the '60s there are far greater demands on disposable income these days, overseas travel, home entertainment systems, iPhone, boats, caravanning, nightclubbing, dining out - and the list goes on, but you get the idea.
While toiling as an electrician in the mid '60s I earned $42 for a forty hour week, and paid something in the order of $9 an hour for an aircraft. The current median electrician pay is quoted as $1360. If relativity has been maintained, that would make the current rate about $291/hour. Not much has changed it would seem.