A lot of people call Lloyd Hetrick every month. Some want help, some want energy, and some want experience. In flight, that is.
Hetrick Air Services is the local FBO, or airport service center, at Lawrence Municipal Airport, which provides many necessities including charter flights, repairs, refueling and flying lessons. Three years ago, Hetrick noticed a difference in the calls he got every month—people wanted to know if he was offering lessons in light sport aircraft.
“When the light sport pilot’s license was first offered, we got a lot of calls from interested people,” Hetrick said. “We recently ordered a Cessna SkyCatcher to try to spark new activity in the Lawrence.”
Hetrick isn’t the only person purchasing a brand new light sport aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration introduced the new category of aircraft three years ago. Since then, more than 50 aircraft have been developed, said the Experimental Aircraft Association.
But it’s not the small companies that are making a big flight into general aviation. Major aircraft companies Cessna and Cirrus Design have just started to produce light sport aircraft. The small planes, which cost much less than the planes the companies typically sell, will not be impressive money-makers for the companies, but that is not the goal. The aviation business is seeing a decrease in its customer base, so the goal is to give more people an easy and cheap way to become involved in aviation.
Cessna announced its intent to produce a light sport aircraft, called the SkyCatcher at the EAA Airventure Oshkosh air show in 2006, and the prototype was revealed on the first day of the air show this July. On the same day, Cirrus released its own prototype at the show, called the Cirrus SRS, or the Cirrus SR Sport. These aircraft, priced around $100,000, were created to draw in new people to the aviation world.
The FAA has measured a steady decrease in student pilots during the last ten years, with numbers falling from 96,101 in 1997 to 84,866 in 2006. To Pia Bergqvist, media relations manager for Cessna, this is a looming problem.
“This decrease is a concern to us because most clients are private pilots, like student pilots,” Bergqvist said. “A lot of people don’t start flying because it’s too expensive.” For Cessna and Cirrus, the light sport aircraft are the answer to this problem.
The FAA introduced light sport aircraft as a new flight category three years ago. The FAA requires planes to be lighter than standard personal planes, have one or two seats, and carry less fuel. Pilots of these aircraft require less training and less hours flying with an instructor than what is necessary for a private pilot’s license. No night flying is needed for certification and pilots do not have to deal with controlled airspace. The aircraft and its license are meant for recreational local flight rather than business or cross-country flight. The aircraft are also cheaper than standard aircraft, which makes them appeal to a wider base of people.
The cheaper, factory-built light sport aircraft are what Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, associated professor of aerospace engineering, thinks is a good middle ground for people interested in aviation.
“FAA regulations have allowed the new category of aircraft to come into being,” Barrett-Gonzalez said. “There was a large split between homebuilt aircraft, which take a lot of time to build, and real certified aircraft from the factory, which are too expensive for most people. Light sport aircraft are fulfilling the dream so many of us have of flying. The idea of having something almost as convenient as a car that only costs slightly more than a car is appealing.”
Standard private airplanes tend to cost over $250,000, according to Dick Knapinski, spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association. He says many people do not want to spend that much money buying a factory-built airplane when a cheaper light sport aircraft is available.
“People are getting a basic recreational aircraft priced from $50,000 to $110,000. It is a brand new airplane out of the factory in their price range,” Knapinski said.
That is why Cessna is not in it for the money. In 2006, Cessna says it delivered 1,239 aircraft, had $4.2 billion in new airplanes delivered and $8.5 billion future airplanes sold. The SkyCatcher is currently selling for $109,500. A Cessna Citation, a private business jet that is one of the company’s best-selling aircraft, can sell for more than $5.5 million.
“The SkyCatcher really isn’t a moneymaker for us,” Bergqvist said. “It’s a strategic airplane for us to get people into flying and into Cessna. People tend to stay with an aircraft brand.”
Brand loyalty is also important to Cirrus, which is adding the SRS to an already successful line of personal aircraft including the SR-20, the SR-22 and the development of a personal jet. The purpose of the SRS is to increase options for all people interested in aviation.
“Our corporate mission is to grow the industry,” said Kate Dougherty, spokeswoman for Cirrus. “You need many different price points so all different kinds of people with socio-economic backgrounds can get into flying. We asked ourselves, how do we make Cirrus aircraft available to more people? How do we make them available to training centers, mom and pop FBOs and university training centers and also have Cirrus training and service centers?”
The Cirrus SRS was the answer. The aircraft will be priced around $100,000, almost $150,000 cheaper than the SR-20. The lower cost will allow flight schools to buy planes rather than lease them, says the Experimental Aircraft Association. The price also makes the airplane more appealing to more people as a starter aircraft.
“People want the light sport aircraft because it’s an affordable aircraft that they can train in and also have the safety of parachute,” Dougherty said.
The parachute is a feature unique to Cirrus aircraft. All Cirrus aircraft are designed with the feature, which Dougherty says is what makes the SRS attractive as a training aircraft.
Cessna hopes to differentiate its light sport aircraft from others in the industry by creating a different focus. It also produces the 172, which is used as a training airplane across the country and is sold new for more than $200,000. The Skycatcher is meant to be a sort of replacement. Instead of a parachute, Cessna says it is designing the SkyCatcher’s whole body with training in mind.
“We want to make sure it will stand up to rigorous training environment of a training airplane. We are doing a lot more structural testing than is required by the FAA,” Bergqvist said.
Pricing aside, the light sport aircraft enlarges the aviation market for another reason—less stringent training requirements. The light sport aircraft license requires 15 to 20 less hours of flight training than a private pilot license, which requires a minimum of 40 hours, Knapinkski said. Less hours means less money spent on training to new pilots.
“In some parts of the country, it costs $150 to $200 an hour for lessons for a private license,” Knapinski said. Instead of spending more than $6,000 for this license, the light sport aircraft offers a much lower total.
“If people can get in airplane that will be $2,000 to $3,000 for a license, it will bring more people into aviation,” Knapinski said.
Those additional people are definitely appearing. Two and a half weeks after the SkyCatcher was revealed, Cessna had sold 720, generating more than $75 million according to Aug. 9 numbers. Cirrus has gotten more than 1,000 requests for more information about the SRS since its release.
Unfortunately, these people are going to have to wait for their new airplanes. Cirrus is still testing its aircraft and hopes to deliver the first SRS in July 2008 at the EAA Airventure Oshkosh show. Cessna will not start delivering SkyCatchers until late 2009, when 50 aircraft will be produced. Production will later be ramped up to 700 aircraft a year, but that’s still a long wait to buyers today.
Lloyd Hetrick knows he will have to wait for his new SkyCatcher. When the aircraft finally comes, he will start preparing to offer flight lessons in the light sport category. Until then, he’s content to wait.
“I’m getting a quality Cessna product,” Hetrick said. “I wish I didn’t have to wait two years, but I looked at other options available and I didn’t like them. Mine will be a quality-built airplane.”