The looming pilot shortage has been discussed ad nauseum. It's here. Some airlines have cancelled flights for lack of qualified pilots. Airlines are offering programs to enable young people to go from zero hours to the right seat. Many solutions have been proposed including salary increases, lowering the number of hours required and so on, but to get pilots into cockpits for the long term, young people must become interested in learning to fly. There are many barriers to this that didn't exist 30 years ago. Enabling grassroots aviation and flying ultralights should be part of the solution.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/can-grassroots-flying-solve-the-pilot-shortage