Continuous Closed Traffic Approved

("Jeff" wrote)
The cheapest Sport plane I saw there was still over $60k. Now, I know the
manufacturers have to make a profit (or at least pay the bills) and that
most of them will do good to sell 30 planes a year, but geez. You're note
going to attract a bunch of new interest at that kind of price tag. The
money is out there (look at the Harley Davidson craze of late) for people
to spend, but once you get past the $30-$40k range, you're outpricing the
masses.


Some numbers to play with: See what you come up with?

1978 a brand new Cessna 152 cost: $15-20K.
[1981 a new Cessna 152 cost: $21-24K. @ 15-20+% interest rate!!]

http://www.cessna.org/benefits/historical_data/model_histories/sample.pdf

Nice average house in my area cost: $45K - $60K
New average cars were around: $5K-9K Some $4K, some $10K.
New Yamaha 360 motorcycle: $1,200 w/windshield, backrest, roll bar, etc.

[1978]
High school job .................$3-$5/hr
Average "factory" job ......$6-$10/hr
"Good" Union job ....... $11hr-$15/hr

[Roughly]
$5/hr ........10k/year
$7/hr ........14k/year
$10/ hr......20k/ year
$15/hr ......30k/year

Today's L- Sport Pilot plane ................$75-$90K
Medium Home Values (Twin Cities) ..........$240K
"Nice" average home .................................$300K
Average decent job: .........................$40k - $75K
Average HS/College job ........................$7-$11/hr
Average car price: ...........................$15K - $23K

1978 was the beginning of the end for bustling activity at many local
airports, IMHO. After that, interest rates soared, gas prices doubled, "The
Recession" was very real and evil and long, wages did not keep pace with
inflation, housing costs rose faster than inflation, etc.

Then, in the early 80's, the lawsuits started adding real [consumer visible]
dollars to the cost of everything aviation related.


Montblack
High School Class of '78 ...sorry about Disco. Who knew?

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("Jeff" wrote)

good stuff snipped...

1978 was the beginning of the end for bustling activity at many local
airports, IMHO. After that, interest rates soared, gas prices doubled,
"The Recession" was very real and evil and long, wages did not keep pace
with inflation, housing costs rose faster than inflation, etc.


In 1978 we had an investment tax credit of 10%. Buy an $80,000 airplane and
put it to work, get an $8,000 tax credit.

In 1978 we had GI bill paying 90% of flight training, with lots of GI's.
Flight schools abounded. Airplanes were available through "leaseback"(see
above). Many pilots went through the program, myself included.


Then, in the early 80's, the lawsuits started adding real [consumer
visible] dollars to the cost of everything aviation related.


In the late '70's we started seeing really large settlements against
manufacturers for crashes in which they played no part. The criteria for
selecting targets of lawsuits became the depth of the pockets, not any
realistic liability(ref Thurman Munson).

Al