3 ms·

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 re

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

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.