… mostly by themselves. This AOPA article reveals that the relaxation of regulations for pilot and aircraft certification did not result in a skycar for every garage. In fact, only 1688 LSA planes have been registered and only 3064 sport pilots certified. There are roughly 200,000 pilots in the U.S. who fly primarily for private or recreational purposes and also roughly 200,000 airworthy planes that an individual could reasonably afford, so Light Sport has not had a significant effect.
Training minimums have been reduced from 40 hours to 20. The price of a new two-seater has been reduced slightly, though it is still substantially higher than that of an older airworthy four-seat certified airplane. Perhaps the sad answer is that Americans are too busy working (to pay for their health insurance!) to take up a hobby that requires a lot of time, effort, and dedication.
Possibly also that most folk live in dense suburban areas, where airports tend to be few, restricted, and pricey. All of which makes instruction and keeping an airplane more expensive – and less fun.
Most money for most folk goes to their mortgage (or rent) – due to the original and longest-running asset bubble.
All for which goes back to too much capital chasing too few places to invest.
I’d also imagine that anyone who starts to get into aviation realizes that, as our host here has pointed out, general aviation is not transportation. My town has an airport. It’s fun to go over and hang out in the diner there, have lunch and listen to the talk, but in pursuing aviation as a hobby I have the feeling that I’d get an LSA license, and then be able to … well …
I dunno, fly to the next town up the valley, buy lunch, fly back. Or make owning an aircraft my absolute primary hobby.
I mean, sure, it’d be useful to go visit my wife’s family, 4 hours away by car, at a hundred and fifty miles an hour, but the reality of a weekend trip is that we’d be at the mercy of the weather and the fog and wouldn’t be able to say for sure that we’d be able to arrive or get home on any schedule, from weather to mechanical difficulty almost anything could derail us, and for all of that insecurity (and cost) we may as well drive or take Amtrak.
If aviation as my primary hobby was a place where I could push the envelope, it might be more compelling, but given limited shop space and a working knowledge of computers I’d actually be able to explore the edges and advance the technology more in the R/C and model aircraft realm than I could with full-sized aircraft, so there’s really no compelling use-case for general aviation in my life.
Dan,
You’re right that general aviation is not transportation. The technology is actually there, but the trial lawyers and the government get in the way too much, and we’re basically flying 1960s technology.
But as for no compelling use-case: have you taken an intro lesson? You might realize that while it’s not really reliable transportation, it’s the best therapy in the world.
I agree GA flying is typically useless for anything except a fascinating hobby unless you have a Netjet share. It does require a large amount of time, generous cash allowances, and forgiving spouses.
LSA have not taken off as expected (pun intended) and it will be interesting to see what happens to the myriad of light sport aircraft producers since there are so many according to AOPA.
I still think it is kind of sad. If you go to a poor country and ask a kid what he would do if he had a little bit of money, a significant proportion of them would say that they want to fly a plane. At one hour per week, 40 weeks per year, even at standard flight school prices for certified airplanes, we’re talking about a $4000 per year hobby. This is quite affordable for millions of Americans and yet they choose to spend the money on the monster SUV or the McMansion. What kid ever dreamed of having a 5000 square foot house filled with Chinese sheetrock?
The really compelling statistic in light sport I believe has to do with how many are sliding over into it by simply not renewing their medical. I don’t know that there’s any way to quantify that, but at Oshkosh it seems most of the “sport pilots” I met fit into that category. It relaxed the regs probably as much as you could and still keep the new pilots and their passengers safe.
I’m also saddened by how much people’s attitudes toward flying has changed in the past hundred years – from something magical, requiring bravery, skill and education; to standing in line, delays and a tiny soft drink. Those of us who know better look at it going “what the heck??” and trying to make them realize…but most never will.
The promised $60,000 LSA turned out to cost twice that. And the performance (particularly the useful load) ended up being pathetic for most aircraft: put a passenger in the plane and you’re going to be limited to about a gallon of fuel.
There are a few aircraft that get around the useful load problem by being very light (such as the Pipistrel Virus) but these seem expensive and challenging to fly; they probably aren’t for the beginners the Light Sport category was originally aimed at.
Given all that I’m not really surprised at the low numbers.
I agree that most people’s spending priorities are screwed up.
But for me, the $4000 is significant given there is no upgrade path into the slightly-more-practical world of instrument flying without medical certification, which is an issue for me.
I feel that while the LSA spec was not a critical success in getting that many more planes out there, it has been good for pushing technology in the light airplane market, with all of the non TSO’d avionics developments that have a wider sales, and just the materials and fabrication that experience that comes to manufacturers having to meet the weight limits. Although some of the LSA aircraft that appeal to me the most are things like the American Champion LSA, more or less the same plane as the 1940s.
I hope to get into hobby-aviation? Would we call it, through the LSA route. The possibilities of electric aircraft fascinate me, and I’d love to make my own electric Pietenpol Aircamper.
“The price of a new two-seater has been reduced slightly, though it is still substantially higher than that of an older airworthy four-seat certified airplane.”
So, for substantially more money, I can buy a plane that’s half as big, and get a license that’s essentially toilet paper any place within an easy trip of where I live. If I want to take my wife along, the remaining fuel capacity will be so small that I’ll spend three times as much time driving to the airport (and then the same amount again driving home) as I will in the air.
Um…yeah. I’ll jump right on _that_ bargain.
The only advantage to the sport license that I can see is that holders can fly without a class B. And frankly, if you can’t pass a class B, you probably shouldn’t be flying.