Comment

Comment by Mark Maltais on September 29, 2013 at 8:37am

Well I'm certainly not saving any money by building my own (You can buy a small Cessna or Piper for 15 to 40K) I'll tell you that for sure BUT I also can't get a certified airplane that I can maintain myself, with a full glass panel, floats etc, for anything less than at least 4x what I'm paying for my build cost so far.  I shudder to think what this "hobby" will cost in 10-20 years!!!   :-O

Comment by Scott Hunter on September 19, 2013 at 12:30pm

Industry growth-1990piston sales=608,kit sales 1,147. '92=582 cert. piston sales, kit sales = 1,943. The biggest jump & disparity  was in '94: 444 cert. piston sales, 4,085 kit sales. New cert. piston sales improved in 98=1,436, kit sales then were up to 6,763.The ratio has been app. 4:1 kit sales vs. new cert. piston sales. 10 years ago, 2003, kit sales = 10,053. Incidentally, plan sales were always higher than new cert. piston sales varying 1/2 of kit sales up to 2000, when kit sales went up much higher, i.e., plan sales varied anywhere from 3:1 to 5:1 over cert. piston sales. In 2004 when kit sales broke the 10,000 sound barrier the year before in '03, plan sales had decreased from 3,500 in 2000 down to 2,436 in 2004, as kit sales were 5:1 over plan sales. I was EAA #767 V.P. 6 yrs., Pres. 2 yrs. & presented these "Plane Facts"

Comment by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on September 19, 2013 at 12:24pm

Sebastien,

Not surprised at all, this just reflects the reality of the high cost of factory built planes and the cost of maintaining used factory built.  I know that a large part of my decision to build was that I wanted to avoid annual costs and I could find nothing new, in the LSA category that could be an experimental.

Ed

Comment by Normand Lambert on September 19, 2013 at 10:18am

Hi,

Not surprised. With the HIGH COST of MAINTENANCE and the low ROI, I think it is just normal.

Since there is no way to recuperate money from owning a private plane, it just makes sense that people would

want to keep costs as low as possible. Also, a HOBBY is just that ...a HOBBY !

Some of the so called 'CERTIFIED' equipment being ridiculously HIGH PRICED and OLD, no wonder people want the newest reliable technology...

Makes sense to me.

Norm  

Comment by Vincent Demers on September 19, 2013 at 8:30am

With all the kits available these days, I'm not surprised...

People are starting to understand that there's a huge difference between building a plane designed by a well known and respected engineer and building your own design (not that there's anything wrong with that) but even I wouldn't fly my own design... lol

Comment by John Marzulli on September 18, 2013 at 6:31pm

Not very shocking from my experience, but I also live and fly at one of the epicenters of experimental aviation.

The cost of maintenance, the freedom of instrument choice, the variety of airframes, the performance range and above all the engine selection are all reasons that other pilots have told me they want their next plane to be EAB or ELSA.

When you combine that with the work of and prominence of few companies (aka Zenith, Vans, Glassair and Dynon) pushing forward the ease and consistency of building... Cessna has a real problem.

Another stat to consider is that for the first time ever the FAA reported more certificates awarded to EAB airframes and Part 23 airframes last year.

Comment by Craig Smith on September 18, 2013 at 4:36pm

I think the high cost of certified aviation is starting to come home to roost.

Comment by Randy Branson on September 18, 2013 at 4:28pm

Interesting reversal of roles for the EAA and AOPA Presidents.