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When it came to culture, the 1970s might be most popularly associated with disco and long gas lines, but pilots who were around the airports back then think of the 1970s with great fondness, and rightly so. Indeed, when it came to personal flying, the 1970s were the culmination of 20 years of great technological and demographic growth that resulted in an unrivaled decade of flying activity and popularity. Things have changed so much since 1979 in the world of light plane aviation. So, if you’re still thinking in terms of $300,000 entry-level aircraft, check out what life was like in the 1970s. It was pretty sweet.
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
