High Cost of Sportplanes

Earlier, john smith wrote:

.... Frank though that he could certify the aircraft quickly for
x-something
dollars because of its similarity to the Super Cub. The FAA, however,
took a totally different approach, and made him certify the Husky as as
a new aircraft design.
This added significantly to the certification costs which were then
added to the original projected costs to come up with the final selling
price...

That's not the way Alfred Scott tells it:

http://www.seqair.com/Other/LiteEng/LiteEng.html

Quote:

: ...Even as he wrote the original proposal, Christensen was adamant
: that certification costs had almost nothing to do with the
: cost of airplanes. The entire concept, he insists, is based on
: a false premise. The Husky, for example, was designed by 4 men
: over 16 months, and cost about $180,000. Much of that work was
: simply engineering work they would have to do in any case,
: certificated or not. So if you take the entire cost of design,
: testing and certification of the Christen Husky and amortise
: it over 500 airplanes, it comes to about $400...