What's the explanation for the huge drop in sales? Those single engine airplanes are still around? Deregulation of the airlines has resulted in cheaper commercial air travel? More telecommuting? What?
I'm genuinely interested in the explanation.
I'm genuinely interested in the explanation.
https://generalaviationnews.com/2015/05/31/analyzing-statist... has some decent (and short read) background on the overall trends.
To me, the more interesting question is "why were the 60s and 70s so good for GA?" De-regulation of airlines was probably one factor, but it can't be the only one.
I'm 45 and a pretty avid owner and pilot. For most airport activities (fly-ins, safety seminars, etc), I'm usually the youngest one in the room, often by a lot. I get the sense that wouldn't have been the case 50 years ago.
Lots of WW2 pilots still alive and interested in flying in the 60s and 70s, maybe? I'm just speculating, but the population of flight-trained people in the country has probably not been higher than then.
Even as a young 30s software engineer with a comfortable salary and a PPL on my bucket list, it looks like a terrifyingly expensive hobby. The vast majority of people simply can't afford it.
Local flight school rents their 172s for $135-150 (depending on airplane), and based on my ownership experience, they're not making fat margins on that.
I'm not an expert, but from what I gather there was this issue where product liability law suits drove aircraft manufacturers out of business. Even Cessna went bankrupt and was sold to Textron, and production of even the Cessna 172 stopped for a decade or so in the mid 80's.
The General Aviation Revitalization Act was supposed to fix this, not sure how much it has (see link at end).
Would love to hear more about this. Regulation is clearly a huge factor.
By the way, as much as one can complain about the general aviation scene in the USA (regulation, FAA, ...), on a global level it's still paradise. In Europe it's more complicated and expensive and cumbersome, even though the EASA is slowly moving in the right direction as far as I can tell. In Asia, general aviation is nearly unheard of. Australia has some, though it's really too big :-) Interestingly, Africa has pockets, e.g. in the south (South Africa, Namibia) and east (Kenya).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aviation_Revitalizatio...
Nowadays the interest is not there and the training cost is high. These WW2/Korean pilots got free training from the military.