> I used to do a lot of gliding and the most powerful aircraft routinely flown was a Piper Pawnee (175 kW / 235 hp engine, in contrast to say c. 120 kW / 160 hp

> I used to do a lot of gliding and the most powerful aircraft routinely flown was a Piper Pawnee (175 kW / 235 hp engine, in contrast to say c. 120 kW / 160 hp for a Cessna 172), used as a glider aerotow – and even then most of the time we had [electric] winch launches. Yeah I mean that's a good encapsulation of what I'm saying: the working aircraft have more power, but the cheap ones are mopeds in comparison. I guess maybe it is mostly the fuel economy though but it generally seems like moonies and other high-performance aircraft probably have much higher insurance/etc. It's cheap to insure your honda accord, you're not going to get yourself in trouble with 1.8L. The FAA is probably happier too. Diesel could reduce the costs a lot, the DA42 (twin) burns 8 gal/hr, around the same as a C-172, and loiters at 3.2 GPH. Runs on Jet A too (diesel can run on kerosene). I generally think having more modern more advanced aircraft in general could help, the GA fleet is obsolescent and there's no money to replace anything, it's just 70s era engine designs and airframes because that's when the world stopped turning (apart from like, aviation schools and military).