GA activity and its decline

That must be because I had a Norwegian GF and a Swedish GF, in 1978, too

They were very good experiences

But society, and social norms, are changing. People generally want to get everything faster and with less effort. GA doesn’t lend itself to that. There is a long learning curve (which the training business has no interest in doing anything about and anyway few would pay for it) which excludes a high % of people who would otherwise like to learn to fly. It takes a lot of dedication to pick up the PPL books and grind through the exams. Many people drop out right there.

The topic about a potentially limited choice of people to fly with is real (except in Sweden ) and it drives people into stuff like joining syndicates just so they have somebody to fly with. The reason this is a problem is that as one accumulates the hours, over years, the social side of flying becomes more important (for many).

It is not the same when one considers the “normal GA culture” where you take people up for flights quite normally. It’s just what us pilots do. Hang out at your local airport and see what goes on. BTW this is also a rich source of amusement at control towers It is completely normal if I am about to go for a local flight, and someone I know is walking past, I ask them if they fancy a flight. Most people do that. It’s a part of the culture.

The boating culture is quite different. For a start one isn’t usually going for a 1hr sail. Sailing involves far more faffing around. Even going for a sail in a dinghy (the very low end of “sailing”) is a load of faffing around because of different rigs for different winds, and usually the sailing club expects you to help out in weekend activities so there is a lot less individual activity… And higher up the food chain one definitely spends whole days on the boat even if not going anywhere.

But yes of course one can see her unspoken message, which was “no bloody way will I let you do such a thing”. Which is what I said earlier

an isolated experience and opinion of yours is not therefore a hard fact of life and society that must apply to everyone

Nobody has claimed thus, so, to use the old saying, play the ball and not the man! Or, you are arguing with a point which nobody has made. And as I suggested previously, get yourself a GF, see what you can get away with, and post the data here!

But she’s perfectly happy to fly with me

That is the best of all

It’s our job to have a spine and pick one that will share this big part of our life

That’s true, and many guys fail there miserably, but also many start that way and then things change years down the road.