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Most popular car in United States, 1977: Chevy Impala
Number built: more than 250,000
Cost: $4,876
Most popular airplane, 1970: Cessna Skyhawk
Number produced: 759
Cost: $12,500
Average salary United States, 1970: $6,186
Average U.S. salary, 1979: $11,479
Planes produced in 1978: Almost 18,000
Cost of an hour of flight training w/ instructor in 1970: about $100 (adjusted to 2017) per hour
Average cost in 2017: about $150 per hour
First true single-pilot capable bizjet: Cessna Citation 500, 1971
Certificated Pilots in the United States in 1970: about 710,000
Certificated pilots in the United States by 1980: 827,071
Student pilots in 1970: approximately 200,000
Student pilots by 1980: about 210,000
Year of Susquehanna flood that wiped out Piper’s Lock Haven, PA, plant: 1972
Casualties of the flood: PA-24 Comanche abandoned, tooling for Navajo, Cheyenne, Aztec and Comanche destroyed
First flight, single-engine pressurized Piper PA-46 Malibu introduced: 1979
Percentage of pilots per U.S. population, 1970: .36 percent
Percentage of pilots per U.S. population, 2010: .20 percent
Noteworthy introduction, 1970: American Aviation AA-5 Traveller
Towered GA operations, 1970: about 19 million
Towered GA operations, 1979: about 40 million
First deliveries, 1970: American Champion Decathlon
Average age of U.S. pilot in 1970: about 34 years old
Average age of U.S. pilot in 1979: about 37 years old
Average age of U.S. pilot in 2010: about 44 years old
Year that EAA moved its fly-in to Oshkosh: 1970
Noteworthy Oshkosh Debut: Van’s RV-3, 1972
Number of GA planes delivered in 1970: 7,292
Value of those planes: $337 million
Number of GA planes delivered in 1978: 17,811
Value of those planes: $1.78 billion
Number of GA planes delivered in the 1970s: almost 100,000
Number of GA planes delivered in the 2000s: around 15,000
Number of active GA planes on FAA registry, 1975: 161,000
Number of active GA planes on FAA registry, 1980: 208,000
Number in 2014: about 204,000
Number of hours per year to be an active plane: 1