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Jim,
I don't think the Rotax is much of a bargain at all. Mattituck will sell you a brand new uncertified O200 for about $15000, which is about what the Rotax costs. There used to be a very good engine bargain in the Polish PZL Franklin, but they are no longer being made, thanks to the company's acquisition by a European aerospace concern. Too bad -- these were fully FAA-certified engines that you could buy brand new for about $8000. The fact that the company that bought the PZL plant immediately stopped production tells you a lot about the business model of the aerospace industry. It is based on low production volume and high profit margin. A lot of the business comes from government contracts and that's the way the industry likes it, as the government is the best customer you can have -- never any complaints about price. So we couldn't well have a cheap, certified airplane engine spoiling the fun now could we? So close the plant. We can see this to some extent in the Rolls Royce acquisition of Walter engines in the Czech Republic. You can be sure we won't be sseing any of the good Walter turbines or LOM piston engines at cheap prices ever again. That is history. It tells you a lot that these companies were bought simply to extinghuish their cheap manufacturing capability. So much for supply and demand and all of the meaningless crap that's always brought up as an excuse for corporate greed. However, when it comes to light plane manufacturing, it is really more of a cottage industry than a corporate thing. The companies building the LSAs are small concerns with very little connection to the commercial aerospace industry -- with the possible exception of Tecnam, which builds components for regional airliners and such. Still, the engine is a major cost of the airplane and it's too bad that the excellent Eastern European manufacturers have been swallowed up and taken out of comission. Perhaps other options will emerge -- like a rotary or auto-based engines. These should be doable under the LSA rules. As far as the cost of materials goes, sheet aluminum is probably the best. The total cost of metal in a Van's kit is probably no more than a couple of thousand bucks. Of course that metal needs to be cut and shaped and bent into shape, and this is in fact where mass production and technologies like CNC come into play. And speaking of Van's, they are probably the best value going in the kit market. You can buy the entire airframe ready to assemble for $15,000 -- and this leaves the company a good profit margin. If you hired someone at $20 an hour to build that airplane, that's only $30,000 if you figure 1500 hours build time. (This is legal in Canada and is spawning something of a mini-industry as people look for alternatives to the high cost of airplane ownership). If you add $20,000 for the cost of an engine and firewall-forward installation, you will have invested about $65,000 -- this is less than the cost of new LSAs, but you are getting a heck of a lot more airplane by any measure. The idea that the pricing of LSAs realistically reflects cost conditions is pure nonsense. But leave it to the magazines to try to pull the wool over our eyes. Regards, Gordon. "Jim Carriere" wrote in message .. . Jimbob wrote: I agree. The thing I am hoping for is economies of scale kick in. We've increased the number of potential buyers from Europe to USA + Europe. I don't think relative demand per unit has increased because snip plane. # seats, stall and max speed are all fixed. Powerplant size can only vary so much otherwise you're shooting youself in the foot. I think the economy of scale kicked in a few years ago for powerplants. The Rotax 912 nearly dominates this segment. Here is an engine whose weight and power are ideal for a 2 seat LSA. It is also modern, light weight, efficient, and about 3/4 the cost of an O-200. The next closest competitors seem to be a mix of O-200, O-235, Continental C-xx, Subaru (if you count non cert). A lot of people think Rotax 2 strokes "saved" the ultralight movement, and the 912 series is the next logical step in that line of engines. Hopefully something similar could evolve with airframes, but other than a few parts like wheels, hardware, paint, instruments, avionics... which are already mass produced, I doubt it. Airframes and engines are like apples and oranges. |
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