"Dan Luke wrote:

And why is this so? Because aviation businesses are almost all
terribly
difficult to be successful in: only those who have love and devotion
to
invest will be true winners, ala the Klapmeiers. Note I do not
equate
mere survival (Mooney, Piper, Lycoming, Continental, etc.) with
success.

I'm reading Donald Pattillo's book, "A History in the Making: 80
Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry." Compared
to the past going back to 1920, the GA insdustry has been relatively
stable in recent years. In fact, it was so bad in the early days, that
one would have difficulty looking at only the GA industry to determine
when the Great Depression occurred. Remarkable also is how very old
the problems are where demand for small planes is very price
sensitive, new designs are often a unit sales success but financial
loss, and the availability of much cheaper, good used planes depresses
demand.

Fred F.