Jay Honeck wrote:
Has anyone heard any more that what AvWeb has reported about New Piper
dumping Charles Suma as company president?

There's been a lot of talk over on the Cherokee Chat about Suma's
(That's the Cherokee Pilots Association's on-line chat page, at
www.piperowner.com) demotion. Chuck was the keynote speaker at our CPA
fly-in/convention this year, and he seemed like a very down-to-earth
guy.

I must admit I questioned his grasp of the competitive situation, when
he dismissed Cirris and Lancair as "plastic airplanes" -- but, for the
most part, I admire a guy that can take a company from $2K in the bank
(which is what New Piper had when he took over) to profitability, and
$56 million in sales.

When the competition has a plane that goes 10kts faster on the same
engine, without tucking in the gear, and includes CAPS for the same
price, you've been lapped. My guess is that the investors saw the
writing on the wall that they're way behind the power curve and not
going to catch up to Lancair and Cirrus, so they might as well
concentrate on doing what they do cheaper.

-cwk.