Small-town airports close as higher plane costs, falling interest lead to pilot decline

In this June 1, 2015 photo, Gene Martin, owner of Martin Field, center, helps instructor Scott Currie, left, and 12-year-old flight student Pierce Turner, right, push an Aeronca Chief aircraft from it's parking spot onto the runway, in South Sioux City, Neb. Martin recalls when teenagers would bike out to the airfield and pay for flight lessons with the money they earned from paper routes. Now, young people seem more interested in video games or driving cars, Martin said. The number of flight instructors at his field as fallen from 12 to 3, and they’re not especially busy. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (The Associated Press)

In this June 1, 2015 photo, Gene Martin, owner of Martin Field, a small airfield in South Sioux City, Neb., prepares an aircraft for takeoff. Martin recalls when teenagers would bike out to the airfield and pay for flight lessons with the money they earned from paper routes. Now, he says, young people seem more interested in video games or driving cars.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (The Associated Press)

In this June 1, 2015 photo, a plane leaves Martin Field, a small airfield in South Sioux City, Neb. Many small towns have had airfields almost since the early barnstorming days, and expanded them after World War II when military pilots returned home. The number of pilots with private certificates peaked at 357,000 in 1980, but since then, that number has nose-dived to 188,000, and hundreds of local airfields have closed. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) (The Associated Press)