Bryan writes:

If GA disappeared tomorrow, commercial air travel would eventually
suffer as well. Remember that many of those airline pilots flying
around those big planes learned how to fly in little GA aircraft.

But that is no longer necessary. Pilots can be trained from zero in
simulators and then turned loose on the actual aircraft for a quick checkride,
or perhaps for a revenue flight. This is what the Third World is considering
in order to train enough pilots quickly enough to meet demand. The FAA is
more conservative and probably won't allow this for some time to come,
although everyone is moving in that direction. GA aircraft are so far from
airliners now that training in them is of dubious value, and airliners
themselves are too expensive and risky to fly for training.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.