Apart from cost, the things that come to my mind are the substantial amount of
time required to even begin to fly (hours of flying pale in comparison to
hours of instruction and training and exams, at least in the beginning), and
the many regulatory hurdles to flying, such as the need for a license, various
ratings, a strict medical exam, insurance, and so on.

It is a little expensive to learn, I grant you that, but your other
concerns are not as serious as you make them out to be. I got my
ticket from a standing start in 3 months, by squeezing flying in on
weekends and the odd afternoon. Yes, I was fairly committed during
that time (although I still had plenty of time for other things), but
not obsessive. These regulatory hurdles you speak of are nothing - the
medical exam is not strict, the license comes in the mail
automatically after you pass the checkride, insurance is easy to
organize and many clubs offer it as part of their rates. These days I
find it easy to keep up my currency despite the north-eastern weather
(and cheap, too, since I can share the costs of flying with my friends
who come up for a ride).


Overall, flying is a lot more difficult than it should be. While this will
not discourage the most fanatic flyers, it considerably narrows the field of
potential pilots, and even the fanatically devoted pilots have a vested
interest in encouraging other people to fly, as it helps pay for and justify
the massive infrastructure upon which all pilots depend.


You say flying is more difficult than it should be. What would you
suggest? If you could magically swoop in and change things, what would
you change?

Tom