wrote:
I think you missed my point. In order to attract 25 million active pilots
a
vast majority of them would have to view GA aircraft as a reliable means
of
transportation for trips of modest length. That means reliably being able
to operate in IFR environments in all seasons and in all regions of the
country.

....which I personally regard as an impossibility in any practical sense.
That was the main reason for my OP, to generate discussion about why there
*aren't* 25M active GA pilots. There is no reasonably economical airplane
that I can envision that could fulfil the requirements you describe - NASA's
silly Advanced General Aviation Transports Experiment notwithstanding.

Put another way, how many people would own and drive cars if they could
only be used for sightseeing around town on sunny days?

Bingo.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM