"Howard Nelson" wrote in message .com...
"Omega" wrote in message
news:wrsod.133446$HA.7798@attbi_s01...


: A lot of us can not afford the $100K+ aircraft. Even Taylor is a bit
too
: expensive at $54K. When can we expect to see something in the $15 to
25K range?

Very Unlikely
:
: I will note that I am seeing a lot of used aircraft in that range. I
: gather that the market is a bit depressed still.
:
:
: I gotta ask, what makes it so you cannot "afford it".

#1 Lack of economy of scale. Less of a problem for making the hardware but a
big problem in dealing with:
#2. Regulatory costs
#3. Liability costs.

Howard
Howard


I concur with Howards evaluation.

Though I think modern robotic manufacturing probably _could_ turn out
a 25K$ 172 class aircraft on an assembly line (with minimal avionics).
The question remains whether they would be able to certify and sell
it.

If a company successfully did it, they would devistate the market.
Emagine the guy with 100k$ to go on his Cessna financing. If you
consider the AN-2 an example of how the FAA would react to such a
rapid change in the market, it is unlikely that such an aircraft would
ever get certified (for any practical use) domestically.

If I was considering such an endeavor, I would look at certification
in another ICAO state, Brazil or Argentina perhaps. Not sure how all
the regulatory BS works with this, but I don't see any reason why you
couldn't build an Argentine (is that correct?) aircraft in a free
trade zone, certify it there with an Argentine inspector, and then
ship it to the US for sale. The aircraft could be tarriffed, but I
don't think certification could be denied without effecting
international trade agreements.

Or something.

-Thanks
-Matt