Originally Posted by Std Deviation

The 61 mom and pop schools have been going out of business for years - I owned mine in PHN (Port Huron MI) in the late 90's. We were a lasergrade testing center - That was taken away by the FAA because we didn't do the requisite mimimum number per year (what does it matter? WE bought the equipment.) It sure helped though when my four aircraft fleet flew 10 hours in February.

We sold charts - the FAA took that away from us becuase we didn't sell the requisite minimum. That helped too.

Insurance on a 1981 Cessna 172 went from $2500 per year to 10K per year for training and rental (we never made a claim or ever missed a payment). Of course I could have had $10,000 deductibles and sued the students but I didn't.

The opinions here about low student starts are spot on. Eventually when the ATP pipeline dries up that will be the problem. Then there's the "if they paid more, ATPs would materialize" theory. But those guys (much like myself) are getting older and more cynical. How many would REALLY come back?