Buddy Pilot … What an Interesting Idea!

As part of my readings, I frequently check what is happening in the General Aviation and in particular the recreational and Ultralight (LSA according to our south neighbor) side of it. I check the news, market and statistics and I can claim that currently our beloved hobby is governed by three major themes: the market is healthy, airplanes are getting more expensive, and pilots are getting older.

On the market front, AeroWeb sets three indicators to measure the general aviation market performance; the indicators are the world shipments, US shipments and world revenues. In the timeframe of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013; the world shipment doubled from 2.1% to 4.3%, the US shipment increased from 3.6% to 6.4% and most importantly the world revenues increased from -0.8% to +24% respectively. According to the General Aviation Manufacturer Association, piston engine driven aircraft sales increased by 21% in the first quarter of 2014 comparing to the same period in 2013. Wow! The world and US market indicators are awesome. But did we miss anything? What is the meaning of revenue increased by 24% while the sales increased by 2%? Basic finance tells us revenue is not related to production cost but mainly to the price and the volume of sale. Since the volume of sale doubled, we may expect the revenue to moderately improve. But what did revenue do again, it went from -0.8% to +24%. So, with this simple analysis we can conclude that the increase in revenue is more related to manufacturer jacking up the product price and making it more prohibitive to the general public.

The picture in Canada is not different that than US or the world but is on a different scale. Canada is not a major manufacturer of general aviation aircrafts; we are happily sitting in the consumer seat. Kevin Psutka, COPA’s CEO addressed COPA Flight 8 in March, noted that the number of registered aircraft in Canada is increasing mainly in the category of noncertified aircraft (Ed Note: One problem with this statistic is that since ultralight aircraft are not required to fill out an AAIR, many of the defunct ultralights are still on the registry… 450 Lazairs are still on the registry, 51 in Alberta! When was the last time you saw one in flight) . Good news, we have more registered aircraft in Canada than before! Well I can’t say that for sure especially when the statistic shows a slow increase in the number of Canadian licensed pilots and an actual decrease in the non-commercial licensed pilots.

One of the major factor impacts the general (including recreational) aviation, is the aircraft price. According to Psutka the price of new aircraft since 1950 has escalated at a rate that far outpaced the rate of inflation, making aircraft ownership less affordable over time. That is not good news, when the price outpaces inflation, less percentage of the general population will afford owning an aircraft.

According to AeroWeb the market leader is Cessna in 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, and the top model was the Skyhawk (Cessna 172) and become Cirrus SR22T. The price tag on the new Cessna is $350K ($150K for the 2003 model) and the Cirrus is north of $600K ($200K for the 2003 model). (Ed Note: its interesting to note that the $155K house I bought in 2001 is now valued at $389K… Maybe planes are not that much different than Real Estate ). With such price tag we can confidently conclude that the purchase price for the certified aircraft is prohibitive for the majority of the general public.

Thirty years back, the aviation enthusiast found a solution, or what they thought of, to the high price by flying ultralight and later, LSA. Today there are 136 manufacturers in the LSA and kit plane category and the number is increasing. The users will benefit from increased competition in the market, but the price tag on factory made ones are still high, higher than $100K for the brand-new Flight Design CT, Tecnam and Cub Crafters.

The solution to the affordability is definitely in the kitplane and homebuilt category, the price in this category is still affordable when the builder doesn’t install exotic and expensive avionics or add redundancies. There are many initiatives on the pricing front. One of the initiatives is happening in Calgary by Wayne Winters. Wayne’s new project is designing and building a new and low cost ultralight. He is building an ultralight with a price tag of $12K and can be placed in a trailer with total price tag of $20K; which resolves the owner hangar problem as well.

Aging pilot community, in my humble opinion is the major hurdle to recreational flying, people are less interested in flying compared to other recreational activities, and therefore less and less young people are joining the pilot community. The main reason for that beside the cost issue is the lack of awareness and lack of access. The lack of awareness to the privilege, the pilots have, in using the vertical dimension, and seeing the world from above. The lack of access to the tools, access to the aircraft, and the knowledge of piloting, access to the training is significantly and negatively impacting the number of recreational pilots.

I believe that the pilots, aircraft owners and the aircraft builders are obliged to overcome above-mentioned hurdles. They are definitely able to assist increasing the general public awareness of the benefit of recreational piloting, as well they can overcome the above-mentioned price prohibition by going back the basics in building or restoring and retrofiring the used planes. Going back to the basics means, avoid installing exotic and expensive avionics; make it fit to the purpose install engine instrument, airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, attitude indicator, heading indicator, turn coordinator and compass (Ed Note: I thought he said BASIC instruments ). The basics can be in steam gauge type or glass, doesn’t matter, but keep it simple.

On the other front, attracting people to piloting can be enhanced by introducing a buddy system, or call it “Buddy Pilot”. A Buddy Pilot is a pilot who becomes a buddy to a non-pilot in order of bringing him to the pilot community. A Buddy Pilot will provide his buddy an occasional access to his aircraft and take him in flying tour or fly-in breakfast/lunch or site seeing flying. The Buddy Pilot goal is to transition the unaware person to a potential pilot and then hand him over to a training school. The purpose of the buddy system is noble, and I believe it is worth further discussion.