Timbo

The above linked article, about a lack of new pilots in my opinion completely misses the point of WHY there are fewer pilots. In it the talk about the flight physical being a barrier.


Hogwash.

A flight physical once every 5 years is about the cheapest thing you can do in aviation!


The only barrier, the one that keeps my son, his buddies and just about every other person who asks me how to get into flying is:


MONEY!


Flying lessons have become so expensive there are very few people who can afford to get their Private, let alone get their Inst, Multi, Com. CFI, etc. My local FBO is charging $170/hr. for dual.

Who can afford that?

I have many neighbors, friends, parents of kids asking me how to get into flying. I tell them to get out to the airport and take a lesson! But when I tell them they have to take 40 hours of lessons, at $150-170 per hour, their eyes glass over, and I know they are thinking....

"Wow, no Way can I afford to do that!"

And then when I tell them what they have to look forward to if they want to pursue the career, first job wise, RJ pay, instability of the industry, long term, etc. they lose interest very quickly.

The price of Av. Gas is nuts. I'm running auto gas in a Cherokee 140 that a friend lets me use (the no ethanol blend, 93 octane) and that costs me about $4.45/gallon. 100LL at my local airport is more like $5.50. Burn 10 gallons an hour and you are looking at $55, per hour, just for the fuel.

Add in all the other costs of owning an airplane, and there are very few who can afford to go for a $100 hamburger on the weekend. I know lots of guys who own their own airplanes who have pretty much quit flying them. That's how I get to fly that Cherokee for gas and oil. The owner rarely flies it so he lets me use it, but he wants to sell it. I don't blame him.

It's become more like a $300 hamburger just for a one day out and back, and it's very hard to justify it to the wife! The less they can afford to fly, the less 'safe' they are, obviously.

So....What's the Fix?

How can the price of flying lessons be brought back to somewhere that average wage earning people can afford it, and bring the price of Av Gas down to where the GA weekend warriors can afford to fly the planes they already have?

OR...perhaps the light plane industry needs to -re engine- their airplanes, just like the auto industry has been downsizing from the big V8's of the 1970's, to the V6, to the small 4cyl. to the Prius/partial electric?

Remember, the whole LSA thing was supposed to make Flying more affordable, and you can skip the physical all together! I've flown some of the LSA airplanes that use the 4cy. Rotax and they only burn about 4gph, auto fuel, yet still cruises at over 100mph. 4gph of auto fuel is a lot cheaper than 8-10 gph of 100LL!


BUT, due to the LSA rule, they are limited to only 2 seats. So if you want a 4 seater, you're still going to be looking at feeding a big Lycoming or Continental.

It would be nice if the FBO's would all downsize to LSA's and get lessons down to $50/hr, that might bring in more students, but I doubt the FBO can make ends meet at that low price. Even at only $50/hr. there are not too many kids I know who's parents can afford that.