Posted on 10/22/2013 4:26:49 PM PDT by taildragger
Cessna CEO Scott Ernest told aviation media at NBAA 2013 in Las Vegas the company's made-in-China S-LSA Skycatcher has "no future" but he didn't have much to say about it other than that.
(Excerpt) Read more at avweb.com ...
To be honest smart is a reasonably safe car.
I am sick of this crap. I am a private pilot and I would fly a 60 year old well maintained American plane in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t taxi that POS.
I’ve heard them claim that, but I don’t believe it. Even if it’s more crash-worthy somehow in laboratory tests, they are like motorcycles: Ya can’t see ‘em. Especially if it’s raining, when they have the poorest traction.
I was never a pilot, but my father was. Owned a Piper Cherokee 140. It was something like 20 years old when he was flying it, and it was in great condition. Planes had to pass annuals, 200 hour checks if you were leasing it out.
100 hour checks, not 200
Yes, thank you. That is correct. And, if you’re leasing it out, it doesn’t take long to tick off 100 hours. IIRC, he only leased it for a few turns and decided it was cheaper to leave the plane tied down when he wasn’t using it. “Checks” were not a trivial matter, things were routinely replaced.
It is not a motorcycle. I actually drove a smart in Europe. It makes perfect sense in overcrowded urban environment.
I defer to your superior European experience. I just know they look pretty damned dangerous on a US suburban freeway boxed in by a moving van, next to a gravel truck as I saw the other day.
I learned to fly in a Cessna 152. Rented Cessna 172s after I got my certificate. The in 96 I bought and built a 2 seat experimental seaplane kit. A crate of steel, aluminum, and fabric. I put 250 hours on it and sold it in 2001. I borrow and rent now.
Comes across as a bit of a jerk. Needs a Exec. VP with PR skills to hit the road and he needs to stay at his desk and have someone screen his calls. My sympathy to his direct reports.
“Ernest’s comments after his presentation categorized the SkyCatcher program simply. “That program didn’t have a business model that worked,” “
The original pan was to offer a GA LSA aircraft to the general public, as the new “150”, for less than $70K.
The mere fact that they had go to China, and still couldn’t keep the price under $125K says a lot about the current state of manufacturing in America.
All of those delays cost Cessna the market, as other LSA’s like the Slovenian-built Pipistrel Virus took away the market.
And the “Smart Car.”...
Hey now... The wife has one of those Daimler-Benz Smart Cars, and LOVES it. It has better survivability than a Prius or a Focus, at half the cost, AND ownership costs.
I know the guy that originally had the import license for these. Was my old boss.
“It is not a motorcycle. I actually drove a smart in Europe.”
The wife drives to the inner-city daily, and was sold on these when she first saw one parked on the sidewalk, in Rome. (If you have never seen what driving in Rome is like, you won’t understand this.)
They aren’t hiding it. Capital is capital. Who cares where it comes from?
You know, I got carried away with the talk about the planes and cars, I neglected to mention that about this story. It struck me right off: That guy is a total pr**k.
And dogs and kittys
GA has become a wealthy man’s game.
Gone are the days when the average person is involved.
We’ve come a long way America...The wrong way.
I'm still partial to Lycoming, the 0-360 is my favorite and what I have now.
No market for a $130,000 2 seater that cruises at about 100 knots and can’t fly at night or IFR? Who could’ve ever guessed? /sarc
There could be a huge market for a new affordable GA airplane in the US, especially with the TSA. But Cirrus wanted to target the rich guys who used to buy Bos and Mooneys, and Cessna wanted to sell an LSA at a price that 95% of potential customers could never afford. And there’s still no one making an airplane that most of the market can afford.
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