One of the biggest barriers at this point is probably getting a medical. There are tons of perverse incentives there - getting one if you've ever been prescribed mental health meds, for instance, can be at best a ton of red tape.
A $500k aircraft that still requires a PPL solves neither of those, and getting the PPL is contingent on passing the medical, both inititally and at regular intervals thereafter.
I was not saying the plane proposed here will lower the barrier, I’m just stating what I think the barrier is.
I think 90% people who aren’t older than 60 or so would get the medical without a problem. If you would remove the medical requirement, you wouldn’t suddenly have double the private pilots. If planes were 1/10th of the price they currently are (both in purchase and operation), you would. Medical isn’t the main blocker to private aviation.
Sorry for that, I didn’t read the thread again when writing the reply. I’m still not sure if I would even call the medical one of the major barriers, but of course I don’t have a statistic on how many people wouldn’t pass a medical.