Originally Posted by fjetter

While this is still a WAG and I have no data to back this thought process up....yes there are more CFIs than students than there were in the 1970's but I would venture the active instructor to student ratio is not as inflated as your numbers may indicate. My thoughts being that in the last 20 years or so many more professional pilots have come from entirely civilian backgrounds with a fair amount of those obtaining a flight instructor certificate to break into professional flying. Versus in the 1970s many professional pilots at that time were being directly hired out of the military with no real need to obtain a CFI to pursue a civilian flying career.

One thing that you can't deny is that student pilot numbers are down which is disappointing but its primarily in the hobby pilot arena as the investment in obtaining a PVT pilot certificate has ballooned well outside many people's disposable income level.