I agree James. The problem is, humans cannot engineer human error out of any system that is designed, built, installed and operated by...

Humans.

I think you last sentence sums up a big part of why flying 'starts' are down, and it ties into what I said earlier about the internet as well. I see the same thing with sailboat racing.

People are now so used to clicking on Google or Amazon, and getting what they want, right now, that the thought of investing a whole lot of time, money, sweat and tears into learning to do something like flying or sailing is not very appealing to them.

Both can be expensive to get into, and both require months and years of study and practice if you want to be good at it.

I think that's why 95% of the people who start flying or sailing, drop out before they really get good at it.

I hear this from people when I'm explaining flying or sailing;

"It takes too long..." Or "It costs too much." Or both.

Time and money, the two things we all need more of!