Plane Facts: The ’70s

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