Michel Talon wrote:

It is *one* obvious deterrent, but not the only one. How do you explain
otherwise that a lot of people with their exam and hundred of hours post
exam leave the sport? In fact most of the people who have taken the exam
leave after a couple of years since the number of members is not
steadily increasing in clubs, while they regularly graduate a constant
flux of newcomers. At least this is what i see here.

Retention is a whole nuther balla wax. In aviation as a whole,
another big factor is macroeconomics. About this time last year,
you coulda set up a nice infant nursery on my local airport
it was so quiet. Economy goes bust, flying goes down.

And with anything there is variance. Alan Greenspan was
once asked what the market would do, and he replied "it will fluctuate."
I've seen some pilots come back to soaring after hiatus
as well...pilots lives wax and wane like any other...
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA