Peter, there are two types of people in this world: those who enjoy old things and those who just want new. I used to have a friend who hated all the quaint Victorian houses he had to endure in London. He wanted a modernist, minimalist flat and none of that draughty old crap. I, on the other hand, can see the charm with an old Victorian house. Same with cars – some people love old classics, other just want the newest Audi and don’t see the point in it at all. “Why would anyone want to drive an old car?”. They¨re incredulous.
The quintessential problem we’re facing today in aviation is that we only cater to the first category, the old fogey who enjoys classics. There is nothing else in aviation because we haven’t innovated or even made planes for the last 40 years (exception Cirrus)! We’re not catching the new crowd, the ones that have zero interest in a smelly old C152. The ones that want LCD screens that light up and something that looks like a jet and is shiny. Nobody is providing that today. It’s a huge gap. But when they start doing that at an affordable price, a new world for aviation will open up. We just need to shed everything we’ve done so far, not look back, only forward.
Well, I think that 99% of the rich russians and chinese will stick with their Lamborghinis; Ferraris and Maybachs. Main reason, abd I don’t have to explain that to any of you, is that you can’t simply spend a lot of money and fly around impressing girls with your Cirrus. …
Also it’s hard to park in front of the icecream shop or golf club.
Still working on the ice cream shop…
Well, of course YOU can do it, I know. But how long did you have to study and practice? The typical russian arms dealer doesn’t have that much patience!
Exactly, Adam. And that’s how Cirrus sold + 5000 SR22s in ten years.
I like old Victorian houses, but I like modern ones too. I love my modern fast Turbo-Diesel Mercedes – but i restored old Alfa Romeos for a decade. It’s not “or” for me, I like it all :-) If I could afford it I’d buy a 1946 Cub without a radio too.
The only things old I see no use in having is computers, telephones and tv screens
I think the main issue is that Europe has been left out of a lot of the last 30 years of changes in GA, as mainstream GA buyers started moving more and more into Experimental category in the late 70s. First it was advanced scratch-builts, that spawned the kit-builts, then that spawned a kit-built industry of planes and components that basically replaced a broad slice of the previous factory built GA industry. Europe has a regulatory mismatch with that reality because you can’t readily fly IFR or across closely-spaced borders in a non-certified aircraft. So there’s a feeling of nothing new in practical GA aircraft.
I like new things and I like old things, but as a basic philosophy I don’t like complicated, life-limited things that can’t justify what I’d spend on them. That has nothing to do with when something was designed, and I grew beyond thinking of things as ‘new’ or ‘old’ years ago. I look at planes as what they are, and what they can do for me, with proper respect for their designers – whenever and wherever they live/d. I also dislike shared ownership, which is more of a personal thing. No clubs, no partners, no ‘syndicates’, no shared hangars for me, so the plane has got to be practical, small and not have endless scheduled maintenance and OEM manufacturer ‘involvement’. Others can spend their own money however they like, but my ‘fun’ money has to go to something that provides value and independence. Otherwise I’ll just invest it for fun and independence later, in retirement.
Even in the thickest RV-land, people are looking for alternatives to the dinosaur engines. So far none has been able to compete on price/performance, except Rotax on the RV-12 (instead of a O-200). The RV-12 is designed around the 912 ULS. Van’s is a very pragmatic company. They will design an aircraft around any engine if they think it will sell.
I think I’ve posted in the past about flying Tecnams, and really enjoying them a lot. Tecnam uses both Lycoming and Rotax engines too, and is equally pragmatic. That pragmatism produces good planes that sell in reasonable volume, just as it does for Vans, and in either case I think it’s something to admire. Rotaxes are built for a specific market, and misleading pejoratives like “Canadian snowmobile engines” are silly, no more rational than calling Lycoming engines “dinosaur engines” as you’ve done. Aircraft engines are not particularly exciting in any case, they are constant speed engines slogging along making near constant power to pull a constant load through the air. All they have to do is cost no more than possible and keep running no matter what, while weighing as little as possible given a limited output shaft speed. The airframe is where the excitement lies, in terms of aircraft performance: compare RV9A climb and speed with C152 assuming both have the same O-235 engine Link.
Speaking of RV-12s, an older guy near me just bought a new factory built RV-12 as a retirement plane. I think that’s great! Its a nice plane, even while recognizing that he sold a really nice, well equipped Bonanza to get it. I’m younger than he so I’d personally rather be on the other side of the deal, as the buyer of the Bonanza. He’s happy though! He and his son also have a perfect C140 ($60K was spent to buy it and for parts to restore it, labor was free, so you can imagine how nice it looks) and a Jungmann, so clearly they don’t see aviation in an artificial faction-versus-faction divisive way. Why should they?
It is not so much the dinosaur engine as the dinosaur ignition and fuel system, get those things sorted and the Lycoming will get a new lease of life
The Dzyne aircraft
It looks quite nice…
It is not so much the dinosaur engine as the dinosaur ignition and fuel system, get those things sorted and the Lycoming will get a new lease of life
Couldn’t agree more… electronic ignition with a proper mapped timing advance would be good.
The “Mooney” Tail destroys the lines, I think, and I don’t like the design of the fixed gear. The main gear legs are to straight to support the dynamic line sof the rest.
But i saw a picture of the cockpit I liked
Now, let’s see if it will have a parachute (success) or not (next bancruptcy)
