Cheap Airplane

Recent discussions about whether or not general aviation is dying
prompted me to start thinking about why it doesn't seem to be possible
to build a really cheap airplane. I know that you can buy a trike or
an ultralight for around $20,000. But you can't really go cross
country in one of those, and you would probably have a hard time
convincing most wives to even consider going up in one at all.

I assume that the reason an airplane like a trike is so cheap is that
it is structurally simple and easy to manufacture. If that is the
case, then to make a cheap airplane that can cruise fast enough to go
somewhere, and do so in reasonable comfort, you need to simplify the
structure.

Which made me remember the article I read about the Facetmobile. For
those of you unfamiliar with this airplane, here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facetmobile

It seems like someone could manufacture a pretty inexpensive airplane
if they used this type of design. If someone could manufacture a
cross-country-capable airplane for around 30 thousand, I would think
they could sell a lot of them.

Making a cheaper airplane would certainly go a long way toward helping
general aviation to grow.