[marshray]

When/where I grew up (the United States), private planes were thought of as auto-un-aliving machines for Doctors and Dentists.

Boomers and older generations tended to think of them as part of rural life. E.g. farmers would sometimes put an airstrip on a spare field. There's an episode of Mayberry (The Andy Griffith Show) in which Aunt Bea gets her pilots license.