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Selling aviation is like selling crack, after the discovery flight, folks who can afford to learn how to fly (same demographic as the folks who can afford a ATV or used ski boat) tend to continue with lessons, my closing ratio was rather good after the 30 minute, 99 buck discovery flights.
I'm not sure where you're getting your figures, but I've done the calculations on both a 30 year old Skyhawk, and a five year old 21' bowrider, and the airplane would cost at least triple what the boat would, all in, on a per year basis.
<SNIP>Because they would be an honest organization. Only an organization that recognizes the failures it represents can fix those failures, and 'it isn't cool anymore' is that very most critical failure. PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO FLY CRAPPY LITTLE PLANES! People don't want to spend a ton of money and not get much in return.
I believe the Captain has a point. In any recreational activity, there seems to be a minimum level that people will accept. If most learning were done in a two seater that had the modernity and appeal of a Cirrus, I think you'd have a lot more takers than the typical $120 per hour for a 20 year old Skyhawk.
Airplanes were never "cheap" even for the folks living in that "golden age"
Back in 1971, my father bought a new Skylane. IIRC, it was $20,000 bare, and got $5,000 worth of radios, two navcoms plus indicators, audio panel, and a transponder, no DME or autopilot. This would have bought a nice house at the time. When I started flying, whenever I got a medical, my doc would ask me if I was flying much. After I answered him, he'd invariably say how expensive it was getting, and this was a man who with a doctor's income.
<SNIP> Again it come back to marketing and public perception. Recreational boating is less practical than GA, but around me far more people own boats. Many middle class people own boats that cost 50 to 100k, but far less middle class people own even a 30k used plane. I live in NJ, and there are several deaths related to boating every year. And if you have a house at the shore, those boats can be damn loud. The main thing is any person can take a test, and a few hour safety course and legally be able to use a boat, so there is not a direct equivalent, flying takes not just money but commitment.
You must have a different perception of middle income than I do. I live in an upper middle class neighborhood, no one owns a boat. Of those handful that I do know from other places who have access to a boat, they own it jointly with a brother or sister, and the one that was the most expensive may barely have scratched $50,000 when it was new.
Also, a lot of people have made the airplane to boat comparison, I don't see the equivalence. For most people, an airplane is a means of transportation. It may be entertainment to the pilot, but most passengers are rather bored by it. A boat, on the other hand, is entertainment. I've been looking at a used 21' bowrider, if I can extract an actual market wage from my employer I just might go get it. It legally (and very comfortably) seats nine. We can invite another family, or my daughters can bring friends. We'll pull an inflatable, a kneeboard, and a wakeboard at various times, stop to swim, and eat lunch. If we had an airplane, it would just the four of us, and we'd have to be going somewhere or three quarters of us would have no interest. That means we'd have to find free weekends, which is kind of tough, and then we'd have to find somewhere to go, and arrange for ground transportation and lodging, and of course, pay for all that, which sends the cost even higher.
Boating is an activity which can more easily be shared and enjoyed with family and friends. Not to mention that it takes much less training and testing to take a boat out on a lake.
You got it. Everyone loves the boat, only the pilot loves the airplane.
