RIP Cessna...Skycatcher

"Phil" == Phil writes:

Phil Way back in the 80s there was a Word processing program
Phil called Wordperfect. At that time it was the market-leading
Phil word processing software. It was actually inferior to a
Phil number of other programs, but it had really great technical
Phil support and lots of people used it because they needed the
Phil support. The Skycatcher strikes me the same way. It has
Phil some real liabilities compared to other LSAs on the market,
Phil but it will have the Cessna network behind it and a lot of
Phil people will probably buy it for that reason.

Phil Eventually Wordperfect lost out in the market to superior
Phil products. Time will tell if this happens to the Skycatcher.
Phil I think if Cessna had really done their homework they would
Phil have designed a plane that was a little more competitive.

That's a stretch to call MS Word "superior". At any rate, Microsoft
has conclusively demonstrated, over and over, that superior hype and
marketing can more than compensate for an inferior product.

I'm sure Cessna could have made a profit producing their LSA in the
US, but the margin would have been small. Even Van's assembles their
Quick Build kits in the Phillipines. Cessna wanted a fat margin and
they'll get that making their LSA in China. Quality may be better or
worse than a USA built plane; but I'd be quite worried about
variability. Most of the Chinese supply problems in the headlines seem
to be suppliers starting out OK but slipping in illegal or cheap stuff
later.
--
"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."
-Jack E. Leonard