I am an ancient ex-pilot who lost his medical 30 years ago. Took a
senimental trip to the local (private) strip a few weeks ago for the first
time in years. Shot the bull with several guys at the shack for a while. One
of the older guys was active there when I was still flying. He mentioned
that back then, any pretty weekend day, there was always 2-3 aircraft
puttering around the strip, shooting landings or just enjoying. While the
number of aircraft hangered there was about the same (20-30), the strip was
pretty much dead by comparison. There was 2-3 guys in their hangers working
on their planes, there was not the sound of a single engine.

His guess as to why? Just too expensive nowdays to just climb into the plane
at will and fly for the sheer joy of flight a couple times a week like we
used to do. Just staying at an acceptable level of competency was expensive
enough. He said that few of the pilots there could fly without an eye to the
cost.