Jim Logajan writes:

Bottom line appears to be that the Young Eagles program probably doesn't
accomplish anything useful re increasing pilot population. People who want
to be pilots will do what they can to reach that goal - the rest presumably
just enjoy the chance for a free airplane ride.

I've seen figures on multiple occasions that indicate that the largest group
of private pilots (i.e., not flying as a career) consists of men in their late
forties. Perhaps efforts should not be wasted on adolescents who might or
might not be interested in aviation, and programs should target middle-aged
men who might have fewer distractions, more money, and more developed and
focused interests. I don't see any reason why people have to start flying
young in order to enjoy it.

Cirrus follows this philosophy to a certain extent by strongly targeting
wealthy, low-time private pilots in their marketing, which I suspect also
specifically aims for a male demographic. Multiple characteristics of their
marketing efforts suggest this. Unfortunately it produces high accident rates,
since a desire for rich Corinthian leather in the seats for purposes of
bragging rights doesn't correlate at all with piloting skill.