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Future of general aviation


Madhatter

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Be happy you have a reasonably new light sport aircraft.

Over the last few years I have noticed a significant decline in general aviation in the US. The GA fleet is very old, high time,  and poorly maintained and I see it every day. New aircraft are mostly upgraded dinosaurs of the past at incredibly overpriced cost. I'm talking about small Cessna's, Pipers, Beechcraft, etc. I have a used aircraft dealer on my field and I have never seen so many poorly maintained aircraft. Many have significant corrosion issues and some have had structural failures due to metal fatigue. Avionics and instrumentation are mostly 1970's and in the same condition, try finding a GOOD avionics shop. Finding replacement parts is difficult at best, today I looked at a Bonanza which needed a flap motor and only one company had one exchange unit which didn't work. Try getting new Continental cylinders, tires, King Air fuel tanks etc. There are no replacement magnesium skins for Bonanza ruddervators in the world, if they are bad you are grounded, there is a $200,000 reward for anyone who can solve this issue.

At least with light sport aircraft, they are built with simple mechanisms and are fairly new. In a worst case scenario you can go experimental and make your parts. You can't do that on certified aircraft, some think you can but it's not possible except for exhibition/airshow or temporary R&D only. Most of us can use automotive fuel, 100LL at my field is almost $10 per gal, $8 self service. 

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Even new LSA’s are getting priced pretty high though. I hope we don’t price ourselves out of business (All brands). I’ll never be able to afford a new one, though I’m perfectly ok with used. Never thought I’d own an airplane built in 2006 and thought I’d always be stuck with a 50 year old plane. Now, if I can just get a 3rd seat!

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Certified plane prices are through the roof and getting work done at an avionics shop is a nightmare.  Myself and a friend were lucky enough to buy an avionics shop which makes service and components at least accessible.  Wait times are 6 months plus for garmin navigators IF they stick to their quotes.  We have a 182 that has been pushed out 3 months because of missed delivery times.  I understand there's a component shortage issue but it's a madhouse.

I was in the market for a 4 place travel plane and went with an RV10 because of the price delta compared to an SR22.  With air conditioning and a parachute it will be 1/3 of the cost of a Cirrus.

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I just flew to Charleston and back. 200 miles each way. A guy with an old Musketeer came up to me on the ramp and asked “what is it”?
So I told him, 122 knots TAS ( with tundra gear thanks Eprop) 4.5 gallon per hour fuel burn ( thank you fuel injection) .  I never took on fuel and landed with a 3 hour reserve.  I realized talking to him what a lucky bastard I am. I don’t hesitate to fly.  If I had to feed my plane 8-10 gph of $10 avgas I would. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The biggest challenge for our aircraft appears to be parts supply.  In the UK, our (fabulous) distributor was telling me that some parts are virtually impossible to get hold of from Czech, as many parts were only made in Ukraine.  And yes, I used the word 'Were'. A cracked windshield would apparently see me grounded for a long long time. Whilst there are folks wondering what they are going to be running their 1950's continental powered GA planes on in 2025 when the regs here ban 100LL, I fear the CT bone-yard will be swelling in value for used parts with eye watering price tags.

 

 

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Most parts can be made for secondary market just like certified aircraft. The problem with LSA is the manufacturer has to approve them which isn't going to happen. There are several windshield companies but they are not interested in dealing with the LSA manufacturers. If enough LSA's go ELSA then that might change for a lot of parts.

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45 minutes ago, Madhatter said:

Most parts can be made for secondary market just like certified aircraft. The problem with LSA is the manufacturer has to approve them which isn't going to happen. There are several windshield companies but they are not interested in dealing with the LSA manufacturers. If enough LSA's go ELSA then that might change for a lot of parts.

I think at some age all SLSA will need to change over to ELSA if they want parts and maintainability to keep flying.  What that point is I don't know, a lot depends on the health of the company that made the SLSA, how good their parts supply chain is, and how flexible the company is in allowing modifications and changes.  FD has been pretty good in these regards up until this point, but nothing lasts forever.  I'm glad there is a path forward in the regs to convert to ELSA if the owner deems it a good move.

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I know that some view ELSA as less than desirable but I have to dispute that. There are always going to be some idiots doing something stupid, it happens all the time on certified aircraft also. The advantage of ELSA with light sport is that you can take advantage of significant safety improvements,  state of the art avionics , and numerous minor improvements without having to deal with the manufacturers beurocracy. To go ELSA for just the ability to do your own work without the capability is not a good reason. My last straw years ago was when I wanted to add one circuit breaker to power a portable avionics device I was charged $150 to do it along with the beurocracy. That pretty much did it for me.

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