Decline of the middle class in general aviation
May 25, 2011, 03:42 pm
As the wealth distribution in the country continues to shrink, the amount of people that can afford to be involved with aviation is following right along, according to General Aviation News. In 1915, a study found that 1 percent of Americans held 15 percent of the wealth, that number has skyrocketed up to 24 percent today.
In the 1980s, 50 percent of new pilots were blue collar workers, the news site reports. According to experts, the field has reverted back to the way things were in the 1930s, with only the rich having a need to purchase pilots life insurance. However, most of these people do not even bother learning how to fly, they simply want to be flown around, the news outlet reports.
The general aviation world is helped out by the fact that around 75 percent of major airlines operate out of 46 big city airports, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Charter flights can help people get to smaller cities that may have no other airline service, especially in rural parts of the country. General aviation reaches all 19,600 public and private landing facilities in the U.S., the AOPA reports.
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