On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 17:53:04 GMT, "Dude" wrote:

A good parallel to light sport might be personal watercraft or motorcycles.

Does anyone know what level of automation is used in these instances?

"C Kingsbury" wrote in message
hlink.net...

"psyshrike" wrote in message
om...

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).
snip
There are what, 30,000 Cessna 172s out there? That's the number of cars
that
might come off the line *per year* for a small-run model on an advanced
production line. It's not clear to me that the market is there to sustain
this kind of production year after year.

It's very clear to me. There isn't enough market, or even potential
market except for very simple aircraft that could be assembled with a
minimum of stamping operations.

On that type of aircraft the automation would have the least impact.

What I do see is the simplified certification process costing less and
making it easier to produce a less costly airplane in the Sport
category.

Still, with product liability I don't see any aircraft as being
inexpensive in the near future except in relative terms.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com