High Cost of Sportplanes

Five years ago, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with Gordon. Heck,
three years ago I would have agreed. But these days I have a whole lot
better idea what it takes to develop, tool, and manufacture aircraft
components. At this point I think I qualify for a .org domain on the
basis of non-profit operation.

An aircraft, even a light sport aircraft, represents a whole lot more
than a pile of aluminum or composite materials. It has to be designed
and developed. And even if it's not certificated, it does have to be
tested. It has to be manufactured. And, for most folks, the designer,
developer, tester, and manufacturer all want to get paid for their
work. As do the companies that supply the materials. As does the
landlord for the facility where the development and manufacturing takes
place. As do the companies that sell the engines, bearings,
transparencies, office supplies, and hardware that it takes to
manufacture the aircraft. As does the bank that rents the money to the
company so that they can buy stuff and generally get by.

It all adds up, and it sure as hell adds up faster than anyone wants it
to. But airplanes are basically hand-built, and will continue to be so
for the forseeable future. Real volume production? That's for consumer
items sold into markets where a walk through the oceans of most souls
would scarcely get your feet wet.

And, Gordon, I wish I had good news, but all signs point the other way:
Aircraft take energy to make, and energy costs are rising acros the
board. For the podunky little glider kit I'm developing, when I cost it
out, about 25% of its price tag is hooked straight to oil. So even if I
can hit its price target of $17,500 Y2K, balanced for inflation and oil
it comes in at about $26000 of today's dollars (16 September 2005). The
signs are that oil will likely (no promises!) tend to plateau out there
for a while, but I don't see it taking any major dives. And the next
time it starts to rise, I'm guessing there will be no reversals until
we're buying French fusion technology and slurrying coal and old
asphalt to make plastic resins.

Sure, if you don't mind investing some effort and taking some risks,
you can likely beat the market by a substantial margin. Just choose out
a reputable design, buy the kit, build it and fly. But don't count the
hours of time it takes to build, and for sure never multiply that
effort by any decent hourly wage. Hand-building stuff never comes
either easy or cheap.

Thanks, and best regards to all

bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
hours of time it takes to build, and for sure never multiply that
effort by any decent hourly wage. Hand-building stuff never comes
either easy or cheap.

A nitpick, about your statement "decent hourly wage," that reinforces
your point-

If the folks putting in the work hand building said aircraft are any
good at it, they'll probably demand (and be able to command as
premium labor) more than just a "decent hourly wage." Meantime they
also need to be trained. With normal turnover the new ones need to
be trained (using use up the time of the old experienced ones).

In a manegerial sense, good people in a workforce cost a lot of money
but are usually a relative bargain when you consider the cost of bad
people (employees who are a net liability). There are a lot of
idiots out there, and some make it through a hiring process.

And so on and so on, like you said hand-building isn't cheap.

In article .com, "Bob Kuykendall" wrote:
Five years ago, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with Gordon. Heck,
three years ago I would have agreed. But these days I have a whole lot
better idea what it takes to develop, tool, and manufacture aircraft
components. At this point I think I qualify for a .org domain on the
basis of non-profit operation.

snip stuff about increasing costs


As a relative newcomer to (small) aircraft manufacturing who is still
digesting the ramifications of the Sport Pilot rule as it applies to
manufacturers, I unfortunately have to agree with Bob K.

While it very well may be true that some manufacturers (and importers) are
looking to take undue advantage of Sport Pilot as an excuse to raise prices,
for the smaller kit manufacturer there definitely are going to be substantial
costs involved. Couple those with the rising costs of raw materials
(aluminum), and transportation (fuel) and prices are bound to rise.

For those looking to purchase something along the line of a "fat ultralight",
(I can't speak for those 100K jobs) it may be worth thinking about buying
sooner, rather than later, and then converting to E-LSA by the 2008 deadline,
if that works for you.

Realize that even for a manufacturer to produce a from-the-factory E-LSA kit,
that manufacturer must first bear the cost of building and certifying that
exact plane configuration as a ready-to-fly S-LSA.

Ultimately many of us do it as a labor of love, but it will still have to pay
the bills.



Rob S.
www.sport-flight.com

Hello Bob!!! I can only agree with you on the cost of design and
manufacturing of todays aircraft of all types. It seams like this
aviation stuff is fast becoming a rich mans sport as with all other
types of transportation vehicles to. Also the cost of fuel , oil, and
parts today are a major problem to. Maybe someday everything will get
back to normal, what ever that is. Take Care. Ron

"rons321" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello Bob!!! I can only agree with you on the cost of design and
manufacturing of todays aircraft of all types. It seams like this
aviation stuff is fast becoming a rich mans sport as with all other
types of transportation vehicles to. Also the cost of fuel , oil, and
parts today are a major problem to. Maybe someday everything will get
back to normal, what ever that is. Take Care. Ron


Back to normal? When was flying not a rich man's, and if not a rich man's at
least a fairly well off man's sport?