Here’s an interesting article from the US EZine, Propwash, by author John Ylinen.
The US has, like Australia, been experiencing the slow death of GA over many years.
He reports: “This year GAMA is reporting that only 634 piston aircraft were sold worldwide. If that trend continues; there cannot be a viable ecosystem for us to use. There has not been a NEW piston airframe certified by the FAA since the Cirrus SR20 and Diamond DA-42 in 1999. That is over a decade ago. The cost of new aircraft has significantly exceeded inflation since 1970 and grown exponentially in the last 30 years.
Aircraft manufacturers and parts suppliers, when asked why aren’t they designing new products, cite their number one reason as the cost to get them “Certified.” Some have said it would cost upwards of $150 to $200 Million to do the FAA part (for a new aircraft design). This is over and above their own design and Engineering costs. All of us have to pay for that effort as the chart above clearly shows. When you ask a manufacturer why they have not improved their product; they cite the time and cost for FAA certification. Many say there is no way to predict how the FAA will review their product and when they will complete their “Certification”. This introduces unknowns and uncertainty to the process. In addition to the acquisition cost; there is the operations and maintenance cost of owning a Part 23 aircraft. Annual inspections and having to use “Certified” parts being two that drive up cost significantly. The next being fuel cost since the specialized fuel is not used/made in large economic(al) quantities.”
He later goes on to question the reasons behind the massive, and apparently excessive Government regulation of the GA industry:
“we must have this government regulation because we must protect the public and citizens. Ok, if that were true then we should have massively more oversight and regulations for automobiles. There were 30,797 fatal accidents in 2009 in Automobiles, killing 33,808 persons of which 4,872 were non-occupants or innocent by-standers. There were 2,217,000 injuries. The economic cost of traffic crashes was reported as $230.6 Billon. The 2009 NALL report from AOPA lists 1271 accidents, of which 241 were fatal, for non-commercial fixed wing aircraft. Of those, only 178 were attributed to Mechanical/Maintenance — of which only 18 were fatal. This includes amateur built and LSA, as well. Some like to say that certified aircraft are safer than amateur built, but interestingly there were only 49 A-B accidents attributed to mechanical issues with only 7 deaths. I could not find data for 2009 on how many non-flying persons were injured by GA aircraft, but in 2005; there were 4 fatalities and 17 injuries, so it is not like GA is a menace to the public. Autos kill far more innocent bystanders. So, if the government were trying to provide the MOST good for its citizens; then there should be more government oversight of automobiles than GA airplanes.”
He concludes by suggesting that much of the regulation governing the building/certification of new aircraft be removed, or heavily amended.
Dare I say it, the issues he has raised are the very reasons for the existence of the Ultralight movement in Australia.