Survey – Decline of Personal General Aviation

[Timbo70]

Hello everyone, I am a fellow GA pilot and a graduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University working on my capstone project (aka thesis). I am conducting a survey of US certificated pilots (recreational / sport pilot or above) as part of my research into isolating the factors most responsible for the decline in personal/recreational general aviation flight activity during the last 15 years. I would greatly appreciate if you could take a few moments of your time to participate in the survey. The data you provide may assist in better understanding why PGA flight activity is in decline and lead to more focused efforts towards reversing the decline.

The survey is located at the following URL and will be open from 2 to 18 Feb 13.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgadecline2

Anyone interested in receiving a copy of the final paper or the research proposal can e-mail me at: timmonst@my.erau.edu

Thank you for your assistance,
Tim Timmons, COM AMEL, CFI
EAA 874000

[Frank Giger]

Done. Thanks for including us lowly Sport Pilots! The last one of these put out there excluded us, as the author didn't feel that we're real pilots who have an opinion that matters.

[rosiejerryrosie]

Completed today. Good luck with your paper.

[malexander]

Just completed it.

[champ driver]

I just completed your survey and I wish there was a comment area to explain why I have so few hours in the last year/5 years. It's because I'm currently restoring my Champ and it's not flyable.

[Floatsflyer]

Hi Tim,

I'm sure you're aware that the decline of personal GA is not just an american phenomenum but a world-wide slide. You state that your survey is for US certificated pilots. I'm Canadian but would not want to participate and possibly skew your results without asking permission first to fill it out. Would that be ok?

[Bob Dingley]

I bought my first plane when av-gas was $0.50 per gallon. Flew a lot. Hangars are a current problem and not asked on the survey. There is a TWO YEAR WAITING LIST in this area. Catch 22 is that you must first own a plane to get on the list.

[Curiousflyer]

Interesting survey Tim. I agree with other survey participants that a "comment" section would be helpful. Ultimately, I believe we have multiple issues associated with the decline in personal GA. First is demographic, but of equal importance is the role of government regulation and the very high level of expertise required to break into the activity. Equipment is expensive (a new aircraft, even a modest one) is 2 to 10 - or more - times the average income of the US population. No economies to scale exist, and because of regulatory issues it's unlikely there ever will be. Now, with UAS coming on line, I think a lot of people who might be recreational pilots will perhaps become UAS operators. With Google Earth a common feature on nearly everyone's machine, what's the thrill of flying? It looks the same on the screen as from the cockpit (to some), and it's a lot less scary. Why invest in recreational flying when for the same money (and zero effort) I can buy an RV (and that's not a Van's RV) and tootle around. No FAA medical, no recurrent training, operational costs aren't too different, and no annual maintenance by highly trained (and increasingly scarce) mechanics who face the same or greater obstacles as pilots if they want to get into the game. Two decades may be not seem like a long time before GA implodes, but I think that's an outside estimate.

[zaitcev]

Hangars are on the survey now. But ultralight pilots continue to fly under radar (ba-dump-sh). They do not log hours, legally speaking, so...

[prasmussen]

Took your survey and maybe the overall results of it will not surprise you. If you want to turn new ground, here's a suggestion. It is your generation that will witness the future of GA so perhaps a few questions which approach issues unique to prospective aviation enthusiasts would reveal a more contemporary perspective. Many of my daughter's friends do not care to drive, why would they want to fly? They will likely be less wealthy, more social and more concerned about their environment that their parents were. You are different in some very special ways. Ask your generation what it would take to make the cost and hassle of aviation compete with the many other compelling activities available to them. In the answer to those questions lies the future I think.

[steve]

For a minute there I thought PGA activity concerned golfers. Not another acronym to describe what we do??!! If you supplied a comments section, why you'd have the last 10 pages of your thesis written by us.
Speaking of hangars - at my airport, there's a 60% occupancy rate. But the city won't lower the rent to attract new tenants because then the rates would be below current market value. How twisted is that bit of city council policy making logic?

[Tlim486]

Another completed survey, I would like to see the results, I'll Email you later

thanks Todd

[Timbo70]

Survey results can be found at the following links:

Non-Pilots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yha0efl2b95lkj6/Non%20Pilot%20SurveySummary_02192013.pdf?m

Pilots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w7r9iw75o433ab4/Pilot%20SurveySummary_02192013.pdf?m

Many thanks to those who participated in the survey and to those who made meaningful contributions to the topic through personal e-mail correspondence and discussion board posts.

[Tlim486]

Thanks TIMBO70

[provoshane]

Excellent survey!

[Frank Giger]

Hmmm, I didn't know there was a flight sim pilot survey as well; I'm in the union of the two sets!

I've often taken to the skies in Rise of Flight when weather has cancelled any chance at taking up the Champ; indeed, it was my many years in the virtual air that spurred me on to getting my pilot's license when I retired from the service!

The SPAD XIII is fine practice for the Champ, btw. Just make sure to crank up the turbulence and wind for touch and goes and it really helped me work out wheel landings in an actual aircraft.

The upside for flying combat sims after getting real training is that I can now land much, much better. The downside is that I fly bitplanes a LOT more conservatively than I did before. One may argue that I'm flying the sims more realistically, but I get shot down even more now!

But combat flight sim experience surely cut down the amount of time it took for me to pass the check ride in a real aircraft - heck, in many ways it's easier in the Real World.