/o/tist here
If seems to me light aircraft are expensive as fuck, and haven't changed as much as cars have over the last 60 years.
If you were in charge of an air firm that built small aircraft like Cessnas and Pipers, what changes would you make to properly modernize the light aircraft and make it cost less than an arm and a leg?
>>932186
Most of that money is tied up in liability insurance, actually. Back in the days of yore pilots of limited moral fiber would injure themselves and sue the aircraft makers. It became such a problem Cessna had to shut down its production for a while, they were hemorrhaging funds into liability suits so much
>>932195
This anon is correct.
It's become so bad that if you want a cutting edge airplane, you are forced to go the "experimental" route, which sounds sketchy to people unfamiliar with the industry.
Today's GA experimental aircraft are flying higher, faster, further, with lower fuel burns and higher useful load than anything being offered by the major manufacturers. They've got electronic ignition, fuel injection, tighter engines, slick instrumentation, some are all composite material, etc.
How do we go about changing the manufacturer liability issue so we can unfetter ourselves from obsolete 1960's technology? We create more demand for the product.
We need more GA pilots.
>>932198
All this being said, if I were a manufacturer, I would rip off everything Vans RV Aircraft and Burt Rutan's designs have brought to the table, with a pinch of the LSA market's new designs.
Think of what you could do with a production all composite RV10 style airplane with a Dynon and autopilot.
The Cirrus SR 22 came close, but with its old continental (yeah it's got FADEC but it's still an old design) and suuuper expensive avedyne, it's still not quite right. I dunno. Need more pilots.
>>932186
As an engineering minded person, I occasionally find myself thinking "Wowee, what a fucking rip-off, I bet I could build [THING] way cheaper, undercut everyone and make a fucking killing"
Then I get my calculator out, start running the numbers, and thirty minutes later I'm sitting there saying "Ok, actually I totally get why they're that expensive".
Basically the short of it is, everything has to be built to a very high standard for safety reasons, Avionics cost a fortune to buy and can't really be home-built, getting everything certified is a nightmare, and there isn't a big enough market to get economies of scale going in the way they are for say, Car production.
>>932198
>It's become so bad that if you want a cutting edge airplane, you are forced to go the "experimental" route
This.
To answer your question, OP, I'd probably just manufacture 49% kits and/or do a 51% builder-assistance fastbuld program for Experimental Homebuilts. And also I'd design the airplane pretty much like the Midget Mustang - EXTREMELY quick and easy build.
>>932243
>Avionics can't really be home-built
But they totally can, if the plane's airworthiness certificate is Experimental. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/April/23/Hombebuilt-instrument-panel
>>932186
A bangin stereo for me tunes
>>932198
I concur. I got my experimental plane for the price of a new economy car. Uses the same engine as a C-152 trainer, cruises 50% faster. Much more comfortable, better looking, taxis in tighter spaces, and feeds the fighter-pilot fantasy so well. Avionics are just as I like it (VOR is an app on my phone, moving map on my tablet, making my own HUD...cause purpose-made aviation ones are insanely expensive). Has its quirks, but overall gotta love it.
>>932246
Speaking of which, total ignoramus here, do those small cessnas have some kind of radio(not the one for communicating, you know what I mean)/stereo built in?
>>932272
I'm pretty sure that there is an overlap of the frequencies. That you can tune to AM radio stations at least. Somebody else would have to confirm this.
>>932277
Just double checked it, and yes, you can tune to AM stations with your ADF radio in small aircraft.
>>932272
You can not only tune into an AM radio with your Automatic Direction Finder, you use the transmitter location to navigate with. Some of the fancier ones have sat-radio along with weather and traffic data. But you really need to pay attention most of the time, not just zone out like you do in a car...
What is a good experiential? That has a useful payload of 1200lbs wet. And a fl250
>>932313
Wtf do you need 1200 lbs of useful load for
>>932724
Your mom
>>932251
Your plane seems like something straight out of Crimson Skies.
>>932186
Avionics have changed a shitton since the cold-war era. The aluminum bodies also have very long lifetimes, much longer than automobiles.
>>932186
I wouldn't. Why would I make changes that a) cost money and b) will force me to sell a better product for less?
>>933219
1952 beech bonanza avionics compared to 2012 avionics (next pic)
>>933224
>>933203
Looks more Rutanesque to me
