I have given so many glider flights to power pilot friends of mine, they
all liked it but were not interested in taking up soaring as a sport. I
have no idea why a pilot would not be interested in flying like a bird,
without a noisy engine(s).

I'm curious: how healthy is the American GA community in comparison to the
gliding one?

An interesting question with no pat answer. All of what follows is from
memory; it's up to seriously interested readers to verify numbers...

In terms of sheer size, it's *roughly* 50-times larger. One segment - the
Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) - has by their
probably-pretty-accurate, given how the program was/is set up, given over 2
million introductory rides to kids, at no cost to parents or participants,
since the 1990s; details on EAA's website. The program has been going on for
long enough for some kids hooked early-on to have become pilots, and who are
themselves now giving the next generation of kids rides in the same program.

Nonetheless, the licensed power pilot population has been declining (more or
less) steadily since the end of WW-II.

Arguably, EAA-related activities contain the healthiest segments of licensed
general aviation over here. Working from memory, in the past few years, each
year more single-engine airplanes with "Experimental - Amateur Built"
registrations have joined the fleet than new factory-built single-engine
airplanes. Most, but far from all, are either single- or two-seaters.

The largest/most-attended annual aviation event over here is "Oshkosh," which
more or less regularly, now, draws folks from across the (sometimes, both)
pond(s) flying in in their own GA ships, with more coming via airline.

Even so, - and I may be wrong on this particular stat - EAA's membership has
been more or less level for a long time, now.

Given that today *everyone* has plenty of potential exposure to the reality of
flight/pilots-required/etc., exposure would seem to be less "the main" entry
barrier, than "something else," insofar as the health (or not) of US general
aviation is concerned.

The above is from the perspective of an SSA member since '72 and an EAA member
since '79.

Bob W.