Flying has become routine of course as far as airlines. Also its
very hard to see out of the window, IF you get a window
seat,NOT over the wing, not to mention the funky angles you
have to hold your neck to see sometimes when the window is
not aligned with the seat. Over the pacific ocean at night,
I could barely see stars though those windows.
Kinda scary too for folks to want to peek into
the cockpit since 911. Even a little joke can
cause a huge ruckus. That I think hurts things.
The captain cant have a kid come up to the cockpit for
5 minutes during the flight?

Pre-911 I was able to pass a note up to the Captain
of a Quantas 747 and got the jumpseat for approach
and landing to Brisbane. It might be a loooong time
before I can do that again. Im so glad I had the chance.
But as private pilots we can change ALL that for
people. Just take up anyone who wants to go. The view
alone is such a drastic difference.
Involve them in the process, looking for traffic,
make a radio call maybe, I let them fly the plane
a little while, Pitch, Yaw and Roll are easily
demonstrated I have recently taken to plotting
the course from the GPS on a chart and printing it
for them to see exactly where they had flown.
Give an old chart away after the flight.
I have flown lots of friends from work and one
may even learn to fly soon.

Some younger people are more impressed with the
military flying, but you can tell them even military
pilots need to fly a Cessna or Piper or what have you
if they want to take friends or family sightseeing.
People who love aviation are there, Wings channel is
dedicated to flight afterall. Airshow attendance is
good. Miramar and Nellis were packed when I went
this year. I still see kids there with their toys playing airplane.
But you know what was missing? Very few
local flying clubs had decent displays. Maybe some flyers
held down by a paperweight in front of a club plane.
I think more effort there would help. Big banners
"LEARN TO FLY" or Win a Sight Seeing Trip. General
Aviation would benefit by some simple good advertising
to let people know its do-able. The costs are what they
are but its still within the average Jane or Joes reach.
You just have to sacrifice sometimes, maybe no brand new
car. Ive been driving mine 10 years.
Almost all my passengers had not been up in a "little"
airplane before. Every one of them has been impressed
with it and many wanted to go again.