New member (actually old member)

[phantom1959]

Hello again ladies and gent's

 

I was a member of this site years ago (so long ago I forgot my username etc!)

 

But I am back again!

 

Since I was last here I have sold my aircraft and also retired from ATC.

 

I have joined RA Aus and look forward to obtaining my RA ticket.

 

I reckon it's too difficult now with CASA & AVMED - jumping through too many hoops just to keep a PPL medical going.

 

All for the 'priviledge' of flying 40 year old GA planes with steam driven instruments and power plants that gobble Avgas at a prodigious rate.✈️

 

Better of now (imho) to fly LSA with glass cockpits, and more modern and economical engines.

 

I am also looking forward to expanding my knowledge through this website - there seems to be a lot of clever people out there.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[dream2fly]

Welcome, from another newbie - agree there is so much interesting and informative information or conversations to collect here - always learning :)

 

 

[turboplanner]

Welcome back.

 

All for the 'priviledge' of flying 40 year old GA planes with steam driven instruments and power plants that gobble Avgas at a prodigious rate.✈️

Better of now (imho) to fly LSA with glass cockpits, and more modern and economical engines.

Welcome back Phantom.

 

Your comments pretty much match most others regarding GA in Australia at present which is intriguing because there is a light aircraft industry in the US, with new models.

 

For example

 

Cessna; now owned by Textron Aviation

 

Cessna TTx

 

In piston engined singles there is a very juicy range including the TTx low wing, and Skyhawk, Skylane and Stationaire models with glass instruments.

 

Piper also are selling new aircraft

 

Home - Piper

 

A retail price last year on a 172 equivalent was about $330,000.00

 

At that time I did a very rough check on weekly wages of 40 years ago vs the hire rate of a 172 ($18 <$26/hour), and on those rough figures the economics of price (I couldn't find an accurate retail price of a 1977 172), were roughly the same then as they would be at $330,000 Prime Cost today.

 

in the 1970s it was common to fit additional fuel tanks to the aircraft in the US and fly it out; a very expensive delivery task. Broken down in a shipping container today would cost a lot less.

 

As hirers we have to go with what is available at our airfields, but it's interesting that we are not seeing new aircraft on line.

 

But the new aircraft, particularly those on the Cessna site look very enticing.

 

The question is why aren't we seeing them here; Are we just short of forward thinking marketers, like Arthur Schutt and Bib Stillwell, who could put together long range costing models?

 

 

[onetrack]

TP - The list price of a new Cessna 172N in 1977 in the U.S. was USD$22,300 - and we had a wonderful exchange rate in those days where AUD$1.00 bought USD$1.10!

 

However, we also had some heavy tariffs on American-built products, plus sales taxes, plus high freight costs. So I would expect a new C177N purchased in Australia in 1977 would have been around AUD$40,000, back then.

 

A new Holden Statesman cost $7000 in 1977 and a new 1977 Ford F100 4WD utility cost $11,000.

 

Not sure where you got your $330,000 figure from, but a December 2015 article on the AOPA site says a new C172 with a Garmin G1000 avionics suite costs USD$364,000 - in the U.S.

 

That would come out to be well over AUD$400,000 here in Oz today - around 10 times the 1977 purchase cost.

 

A pretty eye-watering figure when you compare it to the cost of the average 19 or 24 reg homebuilt. Most owners just want to fly cheaply.

 

Wages and salaries today in Oz, certainly aren't 10 times what they were in 1977 - unless you're a member of the high-flying corporate directors club.

 

The Average Male Weekly Wage in 1977 was $180, while in the 2nd quarter of 2017, AMWW was $1179. That's around 6.5 times the 1977 level of wages.

 

Most manufactured items have become substantially more affordable since 1977, due to new technologies, new materials, and new manufacturing techniques - but GA aircraft have been the exception.

 

If Cessna had followed the vehicle manufacturers, a new Cessna today would cost less than $100,000, be 80% built by robots, be fully electronic, weigh 20% less due to more lightweight materials, have more capabilities, and be more comfortable to ride in, and easier to operate.