In the mid 80's avgas was a lot cheaper too, and insurance. My Dad's Cub cost him $2000 in 1970. And I paid him $2/hr. for my lessons, and $2/hr. for the 4 gallons of 80 octane per hour it burned. I paid for all my own lessons but that was then. I could NEVER afford to do it again today, at $170/hr. Neither could my parents.


But that generation of adults grew up in the 1950's 60's, and was not raised on the internet, like this generation is. For entertainment they had to go outside and do stuff, whereas today's generation of 20-40yr. olds is so addicted to Facebook they cannot get off the couch. It's like they are afraid to go out doors, or it never enters their mind, that they could go outside to play...if they could put down their iPhone for 30 minutes.

I was just listening to the news on the radio, and they had a quick story that said, "Is Technology making us sick?" They went on to say that there is a rising obesity epidemic in the most technologically developed countries, due to the sedentary nature of sitting at a computer all day.

I know from watching my 4 kids grow up with 200+ channels of cable TV, and now with Facebook, they would much rather sit inside and play on Facebook than go out to play. I am constantly throwing them off the computer to get them outdoors. I've got 3 catamarans and a canoe sitting on my beach out back, yet they never, ever, use any of them, them unless I drag them out to do it. They are texting or on Facebook, or You Tube, or all of the above at the same time.

And my kids are not obese...yet. They are all into sports, because I got them into sports 15-20 years ago, starting when they were 6, before Facebook existed. But now that they are 17-25, as soon as they get home from school/practice/work, and late into the night, they are on Facebook.

OK, enough about Facebook ruining our next generation, let's get back to why flying starts are down, and safety. The good news is, if nobody's flying, the skies will be a lot safer! Just like the roads in ATL today will be a lot safer, if nobody is on them!

Here's a clip from a WSJ article about how much it costs, and what it pays, to become an Airline Pilot:

Even before the training rules, new pilot numbers were dwindling. The FAA estimates that it issued 54,370 new student-pilot certificates in 2012, a 31% decline from 20 years earlier.
Training to become a commercial pilot can cost more than $100,000. To get the additional flying time they now need, pilots can work as instructors, which also offers meager pay, or pay for the additional time.
Miami-based Eagle Jet International Inc. charges trainees $57 an hour to be co-pilots on its cargo flights, which are under a different regulatory regime than big commercial passenger operations.
Eagle Jet President Richard Gabor said his training programs are full, with about 80 trainees at a time—largely students whose parents pay. The new training rules are good for his company, he said, but "bad for the industry.
New pilots bank on their incomes growing over time. After five years, the average regional copilot still earns only $35,100 a year, but promotion to captain is a bigger payoff, according to ALPA. The union estimates that eventually pilots can make between $100,000 and $220,000 a year as a tenured pilot at a major airline.
Still, even some pilots who got hired by the airlines before the new rules took effect, regret their choice. One of them is Richard Papp, 26, a third-year pilot at ExpressJet trying to raise his 2-year-old daughter on a $29,000-a-year salary. "This was a lifelong dream," he said. "But if I could do it all over again, I'd do something different."
Write to Jack Nicas at [email protected] and Susan Carey at [email protected]