I think Peter’s got a point here, there must be a certain subset of the pilot population going to these events. I’ve only ever been to one (in the UK, went with a friend and cannot even remember the name of the place) and was bored to death after about 10 minutes. I don’t even go to airshows – simply find just looking at planes booooooring. Only exception to that woud be the fighter displays at Le Bourget or Farnborough. I love to fly – walking along rows of SEPs isn’t part of that. Each to his own….
Funny that, I started taking my kids to Duxford (and to please myself). Two years ago, I realised that whilst it was great to watch warbirds and and aero’s, I felt frustrated. This served as a catalyst – I’ve been saying I would learn to fly since I was 5 so 2 months later did a trial flight and now I have a PPL. Learning what to do with it is the next enjoyable part.
I think Peter’s got a point here, there must be a certain subset of the pilot population going to these events
For sure, but it’s undeniable that flying is dominated by old white guys.
I’ve not been based at a busy airfield for a while, but when I was living in Houston, I was often the youngest person on the airport by a clear 30 years (I started my PPL when I was 24). Out of the few people my age who were flying, I was one of the very very few who was flying for the purpose of personal flying – all the others my age were on the airline training track and didn’t really care much about GA, they just wanted to be in the right seat of an airliner as soon as possible (and it showed). I’d have to say that roughly 75% of the pilots were old white guys.
When you think of it, it’s not really unexpected that most people flying GA will be towards the older end – younger people either can’t afford it because they don’t make enough money, or can’t afford the time because they have a young family, or both. The only way I did it was by being resolutely single. Pretty much everyone around my age who were not on the airline track stopped flying the moment they got a significant other.
These were my photos from a Duxford airhsow a few weeks ago, and it was great. There was a mixture of old and new (see the jets 172Driver), and fast and slow. If I wasnt a PPL, I’d be pretty keen to go and have a PPL lesson afterwards. OK, its a long step from a PA28 up to a Eurofighter typhoon, or a Dakota something or other, but I wonder how many are inspired to fly after attending a show, and how many actually go and sign up to do some flying lessons elsewhere? I suspect given the thousands who attend, the numbers in both categories are low, and even lower, but you do wonder…..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/piperarcher2273/sets/72157644845008121/
The thrill for me was the Eurofighter Typhoon. I rarely support anything with the word “Euro” in it, but to hear that flying around at 600 odd knots with its afterburners deafening you and achieving 100ft AGL to 8000ft in 6 seconds, was amazing. For me, to get to 8000 ft, its a 10 – 15 minute slog. A PA28 doing that would disintegrate !.
@PiperArcher, I was there as well. It was a great show and the only one I have ever been to in the UK. I love the Spitfires and know one of the pilots but the Typhoon was amazing.
On Sunday I watched an FW-190 , two Mustangs and a Thunderbolt makes low passes from my hangar. The sound is the best part, to me… Interesting too how they came out bigger when they needed endurance, the little FW-190 didn’t need to go far.
Back in topic, I think some of the fast track airline students buy a plane when they get established. You can only do so much at a time. Resolutely single works too, I think and you’re better off choosing your mate when you have some experience, flying and otherwise!
I’ve just come across this [CAA URL is a dead link]
The drop in 2010-2013 is rather noticeable…
The big caveat is that the movements are only from airports that report movements, which is only Licensed airports.
There are many Unlicensed ones, and from a few years ago (was it 2010 by any chance?) it has no longer been necessary to have a Licensed airport to do flight training. So a lot of PPL training has moved, and a few have gone unlicensed.
Can anyone find similar data for other European countries?
Here is another data point from US AOPA.
This is the falling accident numbers (which most people “blame” simply on falling GA activity 
) but the article does state
so I wonder if this really does reflect falling activity in the USA too, which anecdotally is almost as real over there as here.
I think one problem here is the lag in reporting. From own experience, GA activity in the US declined massively during and after the financial crisis (say 2008 – 2012) and has since markedly picked up again. While it is admittedly a very narrow snapshot, I see this in the a/c availability of where I rent in the L.A. area. During the above mentioned period, availability was no issue at all. Since about early 2014, this has totally changed and also the number of ab-initio students has shot up. Some of the instructors have told be that they’ve hardly ever been as busy as now. This establishment, btw, is not one of the ‘sausage factories’ for commercial pilots, most (prob 90%) learn to fly for pleasure.
