Originally Posted by
fjetter
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.
Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
In the past a lot of an instructors work was involved in pilot maintenance and in training hobby pilots. However the number of private pilots is plunging as well. That means fewer BFR's and endorsements. The majority of new pilots move on into professional aviation. No ongoing rentals, checkouts and the like. The result is much less work for CFI's.
I think that is the main problem. A much higher ratio of students today are career students versus hobby-pilot students. More of today's student's are going on to get their commercial/CFI and joining the ranks of pilots looking for employment.
When the 1500 hour/ATP rule hits it will be very hard to build time, at least as hard has it has been during the recession and possibly worse. Unless the prices of fuel, insurance, aircraft rental, etc magically drop dramatically.