GA activity and its decline

time to revive this old truth: a pilot’s licence, whatever the level, is only one thing, namely a license to learn.
Or in another way, one is always a trainee, as the trainers in the train a trainee syllabus usually state

Yes, but that’s not how schools sell it. I mean they still sell the costs to a license baded on min hours that virtually no one manages.. and like I said, people nowdays want it all served on a platter.
Again not complaining, just explaining the decline of GA.

The instructors at our club are quite happy to sit down with students and cover all areas of planning a flight, where to get weather, notams, VACs etc and how to read them, all covered in pre flight and post flight briefings. They do these for every lesson. What you need in terms of communication to enter CAS is covered in practice with nav exercises to airfields in controlled airspace.
Nantes LFRS is usually the busiest CAT airfield they will visit. That is about a 2hr round trip which is probably enough for a PPL student in one lesson, both in terms of brain fade and cost. If an instructor has 2 students at roughly the same level who are happy to fly on the same day at the same time, that cost can be split one flying inbound the other outbound and then doing the same again but vice versa on another lesson. Travelling abroad is only covered during ground lessons (FPLs, C+I etc) but if a student asks to go to the Channel Islands or Spain and is prepared for the costs, most instructors and club presidents, here, would be happy to try to help make it happen.
The big problem for young people is not having much spare cash available, and what they have can be spent on lots of different activities. The process of getting a PPL, starting with the medical, and how often and what they would use it for after they have got it is perhaps not as important as finding a decent job and forging a career.
There is nothing to stop anyone using their PPL for regular travel or even commuting. The problem is you need a capable and well equipped aircraft which nowadays is expensive. You need insurance, that aircraft is better off when kept in a hangar. Hangars for regular travellers or commuters need to be on a better equipped airport so are in more demand and costs are higher. At the end of the day you would be spending a lot of money commuting for work, which in some countries is tax deductible. The question are, “is it worth it?” “is it achievable”.
The vast majority of PPL pilots in France, I estimate are over 55 years old. Many are retired and don’t have the need for regular travel. Others have reached a position where they can get the Europa, WT9, RV out whenever they want. Some of these have autopilot, and as good an avionics set up as any airliner, which of course they can’t use fully due to regulators being behind the curve. But these pilots can also decide to fly to their destination, on the day or the day before, because of the position they hold in their company. So they don’t need to buy certified aircraft, equipped with avionics that also has to be certified for IFR or night , where the cost of modernisation/updating is the cost of the aircraft, where a new engine is also the costs upward of 50,000AMU and for the certified aircraft that most will need for regular transport with more than 2 people and luggage or one equipped for commuting is going to cost nearer the 100,000 AMU. The aircraft of course won’t be available to commute as one waits for the delivery of that engine and whilst it is installed.Then there is the reduction in Avgas availability, and an increase in airport charges.
Is it any wonder that certified ga is on the decline.
Against this we have the pilots who have accepted compromises. Who have aircraft outside this certified world. The Europa and the RV and others are still tempting pilots into the ga world. They don’t have all these restrictions but then they can also do what they are happy having fun and landing on short grass strips with very low or non existent fees, using mogas, available from the nearest garage or supermarket.
But this type of ga also has its downside for new entrants to ga. And they are that you have to get your medical and PPL first and your back to high costs, even in clubs with low or no charges for instruction..
You have to be pretty enthusiastic to commit in the first place quite apart from having the funds. But for the moment this part of GA is holding steady as existing PPLs make the switch to something, less costly and perhaps more fun than what is available in the certified world.
These downsides, have though opened the door to ULs where someone who might struggle to meet the class 2 medical or not enough funds for PPL training can still enjoy the pleasures of flight.
Yes they have to compromise. Limited to 2 people and only a little luggage. Only able to fly day VFR. But that doesn’t necessarily stop them from travelling or even commuting. A quick search on You Tube especially French You Tube will show pilots and friend or family member doing just that. And that’s why this sector of GA is not declining, in fact quite the reverse in this area.
If you want to fly, just fly. There is always a way.
If you want to fly as an airline pilot, you have to pay the dues.

gallois wrote:

The vast majority of PPL pilots in France, I estimate are over 55 years old. Many are retired and don’t have the need for regular travel.

That of course is a particularity of France in as so far that most countries people are happy to get retired at 65, quite a few go for 67 or more. I guess the trend will be upwards to 70 until eventually we will reach US standards where you get 90 year old flight attendants who simply can’t afford to retire. I should retire at 65, hopefully I can manage to keep the job until then because every year earlier retirement would mean a critical shortfall of pension… many people have this problem here.

At 55, obviously you are still in full life, at 65, most already have medical issues and insurances look less and less favorable at anyone over 70…- so quite a few people will loose either their medical or their insurance or both just when they finally get the time to do what they enjoy.

gallois wrote:

These downsides, have though opened the door to ULs where someone who might struggle to meet the class 2 medical or not enough funds for PPL training can still enjoy the pleasures of flight.
Yes they have to compromise. Limited to 2 people and only a little luggage.

For me this is death by a thousand cuts. What if regulations for cars became the same? 2 seater electrocars without much of cost and certification but any family car 500 Euros per day parking in Paris? Who would that hit? Right, families. This kind of “escape” of the rules is simply not acceptable for anyone who has kids and a family.

hazek wrote:

But that’s not most people today. Most people today ain’t got time for that. And so the decline.

That is another HUGE issue. Time.

Most people today work full time jobs, some two, some three. 70-90 hours a week is not rare, more the rule. Add to that time you need to drive the kids around, take care of the house, take care of family matters, do your home administration and most folks end up working 18 hours a day every day. Those kind of people don’t even think of any hobby anymore, they are so embedded in the daily threadmill that they just wait for retirement…. when stuff usually gets worse as everything which had to be shelfed for the time then comes up. Time is a brutal slave driver these days, particularly as for many, one job alone does no longer pay the bills. I know quite a few “families” where both parents work 10 hour days with the kids shoved off to the day care at 6am to 6pm and to gramps during the weekend. How should anyone like that fly or do anything else? I notice that when I am doodling for meeting dates, people are notoriously short of time. Recently a friend and I tried to make up for a simply dinner together and ended up looking at 2025. All full before. Europe’s middle classes are under constant pressure and therefore lack money and time to do stuff like GA increasingly. Hence we get more pensioners than anyone else to take up flying, plus kids before they marry. The time between 30 and retirement is usually just a big threadmill without ANY time for anything.

I think the problem we have to nail down and agree why GA is on the decline is due to all of using the same words to describe different pictures and movies in our minds. A communication breakdown if you will.

As I’m a bit younger than the average here (at least I suspect I am 😅) I suspect my vision what a PPL can be useful for is likely a bit different coming from the youtube/internet generation than those of you that got into this before all of that. I suspect most younger people who get into it probably share the same vision as me, which was fueled by some of the same content and media. And most of this content comes from the US. And obviously there’s a pretty big disconnect between that and flying in Europe.

I’m not saying that what got some of you into flying isn’t valid, of course it is. I’m just pointing out that flying has many forms and that perhaps to the younger people appealing form, the form they see on youtube flown by Americans that fly long cross countries at high altitude to get to places is very difficult and costs restrictive in Europe for a number of reasons(as mentioned). At least this is how I see things.

I’m sorry but I really don’t want to fly around for 100€ hamburgers in a light UL, I don’t care as much for the social aspect of being a member of a club. It’s just not why I got into this. What brought me here and what appeals to me is that I would like to hop into my plane on a Fri, fly for 3-4h(preferably less in a faster plane) to south somewhere, have a great weekend and fly back on Sun. And ideally I’d bring my family or friends. That’s the being a pilot dream for me. And I have to tell you I’m working very very hard every step of the way to get there and I can totally see the myriad of reasons why not many other people would do the same.

That is another HUGE issue. Time.

Well, not sure… reading some of the prolific writers here along with discussions going full circle 😇

If that’s your dream then for sure it’s what you have to aim for. We all should follow our dreams, but we must be realistic and not everyone shares the same dream.

Dan, he wasn’t talking about forum warriors like myself but more the general public. I’m more the exception than the rule, actually very much an exception. 😅