[JohnFen]

> I've wondered about the reasons for such an overlap in interests among people here.

I bet that a large part of why is that people here tend to have reasonably high incomes, and flying is an expensive hobby. I'm sure that flying would be an incredibly popular hobby across all demographics if it were affordable.

[samtho]

Flying was not as expensive as I thought especially since I found a school that lets you pay by the lesson. Once you got your 40 hours, you can, without much restriction, fly general aviation aircraft (that you are type-rated on) wherever you want in the US at least. A non club price puts a Cessna at about $110-$160/hr wet (time engine is on, 100LL Avgas included). Expensive, but not so out of reach.

The thing you need to be rich in is free time. You can have all the money in the world but if you don’t have the time to put in, you’re not getting into this hobby.