That's the difference between a nerd and a geek
Actually what sorts a nerd from a geek is knowing the right way to use ATH0 and the DTR signal, to reliably hang up the modem 
Anybody who can send out ATDT (which is basically anybody) can dial out and run up the phone bill
We had to type "ATDP" in West Germany until the mid 90s because all the investment went to the East...
As late as 1990 or so our local telephone exchange was still a Strowger, which is even more "walking uphill to school, both ways, in the snow" than the undoubtedly electronic but pulse dialing only exchanges in Germany :-)
I had a 1200/75 modem for my ZX Spectrum. Our local exchange always liked to add the odd bit extra to what the local BBS was transmitting to me.
There used to be some working Strowger kit in the London Science Museum until very recently (they probably can't find anyone to fix it) with 8 phones attached. My favorite pastime at that exhibit was to get all 8 phones talking to each other, and replace the handsets as quickly as possible. The sound of all the bidirectional selectors and uniselectors going back home was sweet enough to make a brave man cry. (Also the thing that made all the tones wasn't an electronic oscillator, it was a huge motor driven affair that whirred away).
A (now retired) colleague of mine was a Liverpool area phone engineer during the heyday of the big Strowger exchanges. He recounts one late evening, on duty in the exchange, with things being rather quiet. Suddenly the exchange came alive, the noise building up as all the switches suddenly became in use. He phoned another exchange to try and find out what all the traffic was about, fearing World War 3 had been announced. But it was just the end of Coronation Street with a controversial ending. He also described sitting in the exchange in the small hours hearing a solitary call being dialed, hearing the call progressing physically across the exchange as the caller dialed. Apparently in those days it took something like 12 engineers to look after a 10,000 line exchange. These days one engineer looks after half a dozen exchanges that size - you can see why the phone is much cheaper today than it was in the 1970s.
I'd suggest that the Flycatcher hasn't sold well because in the US there is a fairly large reservoir of low time used training aircraft to draw from. 152s are out there that have been in sole ownership, and they are arguably the best buy in aviation.
I don't think the 'BMW Z4' "upmarket" model would work in the US. If you draw a Venn diagram of brand conscious trendoids and people with the depth of character to get a Private Pilot Certificate, I think they barely overlap. Wearing status on your sleeve, buying by brands etc appeals to a much narrower segment of US population than in Europe - the Z4 is a 'fun little car' that would equate more to a Light Sport in US culture. 'Adventure At Lower Cost' might be a theme that would sell to prospective pilots, preferably with US built aircraft that are racier and cheaper than Cessnas - which are not an easy thing to build. The Diamonds seem bland, Eurogeneric. For now I think the C152s and 172s do the job OK, and then the certificated pilot moves on to his RV.
No, the Rotax would not increase sales in the US, which is the 162s intended market. The infrastructure that supports them is limited and centered on non-commercial operations. As a great many manufacturers of virtually everything have found, you cannot break into the US market without a very serious approach and enough money to accept very small profit for a long time until you can build volume. The Japanese did it, but relatively few others.
As late as 1990 or so our local telephone exchange was still a Strowger, which is even more "walking uphill to school, both ways, in the snow" than the undoubtedly electronic but pulse dialing only exchanges in Germany :-)
You are very wrong... West Germany had the System 55/55V until the mid 90s. Migration to a digital system started in 1984 but it was slow and when the reunification happened in 1989, the focus shifted from improving the telephone system of West Germany to actually establishing a telephone system in East Germany.
The System 55 is from Siemens, developed in the 1940s, it is all electromechanical. Every pulse would move the head one notch forward.
I was one of the guys with the illegal high speed modems that were forbidden because they could destroy the phone system. The official Deutsche Bundespost 1200/75 baud modem was state of the art. We did have ISDN though which was great, you would get a line patched to one of the main concentrators that were digital in the 1980s already and also a different number.
I was wondering how to drag this thread back on topic
I don't think the 'BMW Z4' "upmarket" model would work in the US. If you draw a Venn diagram of brand conscious trendoids and people with the depth of character to get a Private Pilot Certificate, I think they barely overlap.
Thank you for the "depth of character" compliment 
but by "BMW Z4" I really meant successful professional/business people. Those types do not flash their money around overtly, and most won't be driving a Z4 so that was a badly chosen caricature on my part!
And as indicated above, if a successful professional walks into a typical school and gets a 22 year old instructor who self evidently knows sod-all, and then gets his lesson "rescheduled" because a bunch of chavs from the local estate, loaded with enough titanium-filled body piercings to need the W&B reworked, walk in for a pleasure flight for somebody's birthday, he is not going to be impressed...
Only the most determined individuals will hand around to the end, and only a few will fly afterwards because that is yet another big learning curve for which the PPL training business leaves you totally unprepared.
Getting back to the 162, why didn't Cessna realise this? They are the smartest player in GA, having delivered the Mustang on time, on price, on spec, and flyable.
I had a 1200/75 modem for my ZX Spectrum
I once soldered a UART onto mine. (goodnight everybody!)
your instructor is a 23 year old who has never seen the outside of the training environment, who then tells you things that your world experience would suggest are bullshit, or makes you do procedures that make no sense (such as using a 15 page checklist for a C152 and using it as a 'to do list'). You're probably not going to be silent about it especially if you're one of the types who are going to remain in aviation (I think what marks most people who stay with private aviation is we are all obsessed to some extent, and try and learn all we can about what we're doing) and perhaps have read a few Pelican's Perch columns on AvWeb. I imagine the FTOs hate this type of person the most.
Depends on the FTO. Some FTOs actually prefer the inquisitive students - one example is my favourite one at LKHK. They don't use "sausage factory" instructors, either - they have instead one Gripen fighter pilot on active duty, one retired commander of air force base, one former African bush pilot and a few other unusual types. And guess what - they have a Cessna 162 in the hangar! It's not approved for instruction because it's N-reg, but they rent it out for hour building, and it also serves as a demo, as they are a local Cessna sales agent.
Getting back to the 162, why didn't Cessna realise this? They are the smartest player in GA, having delivered the Mustang on time, on price, on spec, and flyable.
My theory, not entirely well developed as yet, is that Cessna is weak at marketing to non-traditional markets as a result of being in Kansas (and selling to the coasts). I could be wrong - they are no dummies otherwise.
Getting back to the 162, why didn't Cessna realise this?
There was a time when the companies thought microlights were required to make their SEP business survive. Piper licensed the Czech Sports Aircraft but gave up on it shortly after release.
Cessna also thought they needed a hedge against Cirrus and acquired Columbia which was a big disaster. It was all under Jack Pelton who was a fanatic aviator. Now Cessna is run by a bean counter from General Electric.
Piper licensed the Czech Sports Aircraft but gave up on it shortly after release.
Were CSA a real company then? There were various reports going around at the time that Piper execs visited the factory and found nothing much there, and various variations of that.
It must be incredibly hard for a US firm to do business with an ex Communist firm, at such a geographical and cultural distance.
