Number of Current Pilots?

B

Beat

Filing Flight Plan
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Beat
I asked myself this question and came up with some surprising answers. I read that in 2019, there were 664,000 pilots in the US, but 197,000 of them were Student. So, only 446,000 had at least a Private Pilot Certificate. Are those numbers right? I've made it to CFII myself, but didn't think that I was in such a small group. I guess that can be right, but I'm still kinda shocked.
 
If every active pilot in the US sends me a dime, I'll gladly report the number.
 
shocked? why? It's a dying hobby that the MSAs where households find above median occupations want to live and thrive in, have largely have gentrified out to the downwardly-mobile/de-populating sticks for access.
 
That reminds me. The other day I got a call from a charity. I said I'd donate. They took my address and said they send me an envelope/invoice.

I thought it was odd, but thinking about it, it does cost them money to send me the packet so their method probably saves them money. Also, sending an "invoice" has some legal magic. If not in reality, at least mentally it invokes "I've got to pay this".

Time to get back to counting pilots.
 
hindsight2020 said:
shocked? why? It's a dying hobby that the MSAs where households find above median occupations want to live and thrive in, have largely have gentrified out to the downwardly-mobile/de-populating sticks for access.
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Shocked because perhaps I don't think of myself as that special to be part of such a small group. I may have thought that with military pilots, the presence of so many Aeronautical Majors or colleges, and career path companies (ATP for example), that there would be more. That and the fact I can not find a reasonably priced well equipped 182 to buy.
Sadly I see there are over 1.3 million active lawyers in the US. Coming from a family of lawyers, I still say we need more pilots and fewer lawyers.
Since the year I earned my pilot's license in 2001, there have been over 700,000 full ride football scholarships to FBS Schools. So it is more likely a person can earn a full ride Division 1 college scholarship in football than it is to earn your pilot's license.
 
Beat said:
Since the year I earned my pilot's license in 2001, there have been over 700,000 full ride football scholarships to FBS Schools. So it is more likely a person can earn a full ride Division 1 college scholarship in football than it is to earn your pilot's license.
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If you can make or walk onto the Alabama team, I'll be your agent!;) Now GET OFF this forum and go lift some weights are start runnning!:p
 
danhagan said:
If you can make or walk onto the Alabama team, I'll be your agent!;) Now GET OFF this forum and go lift some weights are start runnning!:p
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My limit was being recruited as OL/DL for Division III schools - 35 years ago. Still running and lifting weights!
But hey, I just thought it was an interesting exercise to see how few pilots there are compared to other things.
 
Beat said:
I asked myself this question and came up with some surprising answers. I read that in 2019, there were 664,000 pilots in the US, but 197,000 of them were Student. So, only 446,000 had at least a Private Pilot Certificate. Are those numbers right? I've made it to CFII myself, but didn't think that I was in such a small group. I guess that can be right, but I'm still kinda shocked.
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seems a small number. but don't forget sport,rec. pilots and others who hold a certificate. assuming the numbefs are correct they are a part of the 446,000.
 
Iirc, the really depressing thing is how any student starts there are vs. how many aactually get certified. I was surprised to learn 60,000 of us are basic med though.
 
I'm a student pilot and also a millennial (albeit about as old as one can be and still be assigned that badge). One of the character traits of the younger generation and increasingly society as a whole is impatience and the expectation of instant gratification. We all appreciate that learning to fly isn't an inexpensive thing to do, and someone on this forum said once that flying isn't a participation ribbon endeavor - I think is a great way to put it. You don't just sign up to become a pilot. I'm just now to my solo cross countries and I've seen that it takes time and effort, something that people seem less likely to voluntarily put forth anymore - and there's definitely a requisite level of intelligence to be a pilot. I won't touch that last one when referencing society as a whole.

I see this concept at work, too - I've been practicing law long enough to become cranky toward the newly minted lawyers coming out of school - very entitled bunch that want everything handed to them and want to tell the firm how lucky we are to have them. They don't want the chained-to-the-desk grunt work that is mandatory for career growth. Doesn't work well for some of them in the end.

Anyway, that's my two cents (if not a dime) as to why there are fewer private pilots. Even when you the money, it still takes effort and time. That's too much to ask from a lot of people, I guess.
 
86Aviator said:
I'm a student pilot and also a millennial (albeit about as old as one can be and still be assigned that badge). One of the character traits of the younger generation and increasingly society as a whole is impatience and the expectation of instant gratification. We all appreciate that learning to fly isn't an inexpensive thing to do, and someone on this forum said once that flying isn't a participation ribbon endeavor - I think is a great way to put it. You don't just sign up to become a pilot. I'm just now to my solo cross countries and I've seen that it takes time and effort, something that people seem less likely to voluntarily put forth anymore - and there's definitely a requisite level of intelligence to be a pilot. I won't touch that last one when referencing society as a whole.

I see this concept at work, too - I've been practicing law long enough to become cranky toward the newly minted lawyers coming out of school - very entitled bunch that want everything handed to them and want to tell the firm how lucky we are to have them. They don't want the chained-to-the-desk grunt work that is mandatory for career growth. Doesn't work well for some of them in the end.

Anyway, that's my two cents (if not a dime) as to why there are fewer private pilots. Even when you the money, it still takes effort and time. That's too much to ask from a lot of people, I guess.
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Good post, here's a secret though, it's not just your generation that seeks instant gratification and lacks motivation to complete long term endeavors. I'm a tail end boomer, and I've seen this "problem" in people 20 years or older than me and people younger than me. Some of the laziest SOBs I've ever seen were young adults in the 60's. So people like that are timeless.

The distractions are different now, but a distraction is a distraction and becoming a pilot doesn't happen if one isn't motivated. Stay focused and ignore the noise. Give younger generations a break, trust me there are plenty of them that are motivated to do great things. Just stay out of their way and let them flourish.
 
I can see the number of active pilots continuing to dwindle because:
1) A perceived lack of need to physically go somewhere to experience it, there are a lot more virtual experiences substituting for real world experiences because it's "good enough" reducing the motivation to take this on
2) Cost is a significantly larger factor making even PPL level aviation MUCH harder to afford than it was in the past
3) Aeromedical qualification has not kept pace with the advances in diagnostic medicine's ability to label conditions that previously would have been non-reportable and the increased prescription rate for medications resulting in a much higher disqualification rate shrinking the pool of potential pilots
4) <flame suit>The gap between federal law making on recreational pot use and state level laws making a state level legal activity disqualifying</flame suit>

Given the levels of automation onboard and remote piloting for UAVs combined with trouble training new pilots I would be surprised to see pilots in the cockpit of planes in the year 2100
 
86Aviator said:
(albeit about as old as one can be and still be assigned that badge)
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Badges were associated with Honor, and they were EARNED, until you whipper snappers came around.

Old man Ravioli goes back to his cave for a while
 
Ravioli said:
Badges were associated with Honor, and they were EARNED, until you whipper snappers came around.

Old man Ravioli goes back to his cave for a while
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Or scarlet letter - when it comes to Millennial branding, take your pick. :D
 
Beat said:
My limit was being recruited as OL/DL for Division III schools - 35 years ago. Still running and lifting weights! But hey, I just thought it was an interesting exercise to see how few pilots there are compared to other things.
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Not all hope is lost just yet ... can you kick a field goal? I think they had some 40 year old in college doing it a few year back, and lord knows Alabama can't kick field goals!:confused:;):D
 
hindsight2020 said:
shocked? why? It's a dying hobby that the MSAs where households find above median occupations want to live and thrive in, have largely have gentrified out to the downwardly-mobile/de-populating sticks for access.
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Timbeck2 said:
Did you guys count me yet? I've gotta pee. :oops:
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Yeah, if you have to do drug testing, then I guess you don't count. Unless this is your seventh year of HIMS!
 
Beat said:
I asked myself this question and came up with some surprising answers. I read that in 2019, there were 664,000 pilots in the US, but 197,000 of them were Student. So, only 446,000 had at least a Private Pilot Certificate. Are those numbers right? I've made it to CFII myself, but didn't think that I was in such a small group. I guess that can be right, but I'm still kinda shocked.
Click to expand...
It used to be about 1/5th of one percent of the population. The 446,000 translates into .135%, or a little less than 1/7th of one percent. It's shrinking. One in 700 people.
 
I haven't dug into the numbers much, but at first glance, it looks like it at least temporarily turned around in 2016 and has been growing since. 2020 numbers will be weird.
 
saracelica said:
The even smaller number is the number of women pilots! :) I'm a proud certified women pilot
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Congrats - that's a great point!

An even smaller number is seen in the number of tail wheel pilots. Work down from there to the number of pilots that build their own aircraft. Now we're getting into a quite small class and I'm in that one with a few other fine folks ...
 
Experimental market has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Numbers were steadily increasing at Oshkosh every year until this past year, as it was cancelled for Covid. Most of the flight schools I know of are packed with students. It seems this past year has resparked a lot of interests in all activities outdoors, to include general aviation.

The biggest hurdle I see for new pilots is cost. I know several young people that wanted to be pilots, took a few classes/flights, and dropped out because they could not afford it (these are young active duty military folks, not people that expect everything to be handed to them). Hopefully those costs will start to come down with electric and mogas trainers right around the corner.

So... what are YOU* doing to help general aviation? Are you a CFI? Ever donate any training? Do you own a plane? Ever think about donating a few hours to a CFI and a young student? Ever thought about joining the local EAA chapter and maybe inspire some young minds through their Young Eagles program? Or inspire others, young or old, by taking them flying? Are you a good ambassador for aviation? And last but not least, if someone was interested in becoming a new pilot, and they were to talk to you, do you think they would still want to be a pilot?

*a gerneralized "you", not any specific person.
 
Young eagles is a great program, but after you spark their interest they run up against the cost to train..
 
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