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>Of the 15 most popular light aircraft models built in 2015, only one was introduced in the 1950s: the Cessna 172. It's disingenuous to say that and not talk a

>Of the 15 most popular light aircraft models built in 2015, only one was introduced in the 1950s: the Cessna 172. It's disingenuous to say that and not talk about numbers. There were over 44 thousand of them built, and they are literally the most produced aircraft ever. Cirrus is a blip on the radar compared to Cessna. At 300 planes/year they will not catch up with Cessna in a century even if Cessna ceased to exist today! In fact, the top six most produced civilian aircraft ever that are still in production are[1]: Cessna 172 (1950's) Piper PA-28 (1960's) Cessna 182 (1950's) Cessna 152 (1950's) Antonov AN-2 (1950's) Beechcraft Bonanza (1950's) Do you have the statistics on the market share of the "slide-rule" planes today? Not as a percentage of planes being built or sold, but of the ones in service. I'd bet on them being the majority. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-produced_aircraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-produced_aircraft

lisper 8y ago
No, it is not disingenuous because the topic at hand is "the majority of new planes built today." Obviously if you look at production through all of aviation history you are going end up overweight in older models. But that is just a reflection of the fact that planes are generally designed and built to last. It has nothing to do with the current state of the art, which is what the OP was lamenting.
- romwell 8y ago
  OK. You are correct, you have refuted the point that the majority of planes built today are of older designs. The point we were discussing is that excessive regulation on light aircraft prevents innovation by driving the cost prohibitively up and thus leading to a decrease in sales of new designs. It is not clear to me that the argument that the industry overall is less safer is invalid if most of the planes flown are old, and if over-regulation of light aircraft is the cause of that. We do need the statistics on the numbers of old-design planes in the air, together with the pricing data, statistics on sales which include old planes, etc.
  - lisper 8y ago
    Wow, new planes cost more than old planes. Who knew?
    - romwell 8y ago
      New planes today cost more than new planes used to cost back in the day (accounting for inflation), which creates more demand for older planes. Cessna 172 cost under $9000 in 1956 when it was introduced, which is about $80K today when accounted for inflation. Do you know of any similar new aircraft in the same ballpark? Last time I checked, $50K still gets a Cessna 172 built in the 70's. A new Cessna 172 seems to be north of $250K, depending on configuration. Cirrus SR22 is north of $550K. Civil aviation has definitely become a richer man's game over the past 5 decades; the question is why this happened. To be clear: a middle-class enthusiast really can't afford to buy the best-selling plane of the year new today, while that was a realistic option in the 1950's. 1. Do you not think this is bad? 2. What do you think are the causes of that?
      - lisper 8y ago
        These are very different topics from the original one under discussion, and much more complex. I don't know why it should matter to you what I think about this, but since you asked, no, I don't think the increased cost of aircraft is bad. Aviation is a very environmentally destructive pastime, so high barriers to entry are a good thing. As to your second question, liability concerns and government regulations certainly add a lot to the cost of an airplane. But the flip side of that is that modern airplanes tend to be pretty darn safe. As a pilot, I think that's a good thing too.

lisper 8y ago

No, it is not disingenuous because the topic at hand is "the majority of new planes built today." Obviously if you look at production through all of aviation history you are going end up overweight in older models. But that is just a reflection of the fact that planes are generally designed and built to last. It has nothing to do with the current state of the art, which is what the OP was lamenting.

romwell 8y ago
OK. You are correct, you have refuted the point that the majority of planes built today are of older designs. The point we were discussing is that excessive regulation on light aircraft prevents innovation by driving the cost prohibitively up and thus leading to a decrease in sales of new designs. It is not clear to me that the argument that the industry overall is less safer is invalid if most of the planes flown are old, and if over-regulation of light aircraft is the cause of that. We do need the statistics on the numbers of old-design planes in the air, together with the pricing data, statistics on sales which include old planes, etc.
- lisper 8y ago
  Wow, new planes cost more than old planes. Who knew?
  - romwell 8y ago
    New planes today cost more than new planes used to cost back in the day (accounting for inflation), which creates more demand for older planes. Cessna 172 cost under $9000 in 1956 when it was introduced, which is about $80K today when accounted for inflation. Do you know of any similar new aircraft in the same ballpark? Last time I checked, $50K still gets a Cessna 172 built in the 70's. A new Cessna 172 seems to be north of $250K, depending on configuration. Cirrus SR22 is north of $550K. Civil aviation has definitely become a richer man's game over the past 5 decades; the question is why this happened. To be clear: a middle-class enthusiast really can't afford to buy the best-selling plane of the year new today, while that was a realistic option in the 1950's. 1. Do you not think this is bad? 2. What do you think are the causes of that?
    - lisper 8y ago
      These are very different topics from the original one under discussion, and much more complex. I don't know why it should matter to you what I think about this, but since you asked, no, I don't think the increased cost of aircraft is bad. Aviation is a very environmentally destructive pastime, so high barriers to entry are a good thing. As to your second question, liability concerns and government regulations certainly add a lot to the cost of an airplane. But the flip side of that is that modern airplanes tend to be pretty darn safe. As a pilot, I think that's a good thing too.