Has There Ever Been A Time When Airplanes And The Whole Aviation Business Didn’t Cost Too Much?

Of course they cost too much; they always have and they always will. The Wright Brothers sold their first plane to the U.S. Army for $25,000 (plus a $5,000 performance bonus) at a time when a new house could be purchased for about $600. Only the government or a very rich person could afford a plane, right?

In the late 1920s and early 30s, Jean LaRoche and the Taylor brothers tried to build and sell an airplane for every man. They got a lot closer than other manufacturers of the day, but even the Aeronca C2 and the Taylor Cub cost four times the price of a new Ford automobile.

By the early 1950s, the cost of a simple Piper Cub had climbed to almost $2,000 and only the rich could afford the Beechcraft Bonanza at the lofty price of $13,000. Paul Poberezny had a dream that you could put your own ingenuity to work to come up with a more affordable way to fly. Paul’s dream turned into what is called the EAA, and that has offered another direction for price control.

Sport pilot has opened up a whole new way for us to enjoy flying as a sport, at a lower cost, but it has also created a new lament; sport planes cost too much.

Do they cost too much? The answer is; it depends. Until sport pilot came alive in 2004, you could count the number of two-place airplanes being marketed in the U.S. on the fingers of one hand. Now, it takes the fingers and toes of two people to keep track of the new planes that have come to the market.

A new Cessna 150 cost about $10,500 in 1965, and the average cost of a new car was just under $3,000. Using the CPI Inflation Calculator, that Cessna would come it at about $80,000 today.

Maybe the cry of unfair high prices for the high-end sport planes is because we get mixed up when talking about price, affordability, and value. Price for a product is set by our free market. Lots of manufacturers seem think there is a market for S-LSA’s priced between $80,000 and $150,000. Does a light sport aircraft really need a $20,000 instrument panel and a full autopilot? Affordability is a personal issue involving personal finances and goals.

Sure, this whole flying thing is just too expensive, but there’s hundreds of thousands of us out there that find a way to do it. If you want to fly just because you love it, do you really need all the bells and whistles? Take a good look at the idea of a partnership, or forming flying clubs, or building a puddle jumper.

Don’t look at the cost of the high-end sport planes and throw your hands in the air in frustration. Sure, it’s the American dream to always want the best there is but, if your dream really involves the challenge of flying and that unbelievable feeling of accomplishment when you do it, maybe that’s the dream that really counts.

(Image of Aeronca C2 “affordable” airplane from National Air and Space Museum)

FMI: www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm