As LSA Slowly Integrates Itself Into The Flight Training Biz, The Skycatcher Stands Ready

ANN E-I-C Note: In light of the drastic price increase announced by Cessna for the C-162 Skycatcher, we thought it pertinent to look back at an interview we did with Cessna personnel at the 2011 Sebring US Sport Aviation Expo... view it and let us know how you think the the jump to a price of $149,900 is going to affect the plans for this airplane and its hopes for a serious role in the future of GA flight training... -- Jim Campbell, ANN Editor-In-Chief

I don't have to tell you that the entire aviation biz has seen better days and if you've been reading ANN, of late, you know that we're bound and determined to craft a new future for the aviation world.

While aviation has its share of promising and not-so-promising aspects to consider, we still believe that the LSA program has much to offer... though it has been poorly managed and incompetently led from the get-go... and worse than that, we're hearing deeply disturbing reports that the FAA may not be willing to leave well-enough alone.

We'll have much more to say about that in the near future, but suffice it to say that those aspects of the LSA biz that have some semblance of organization and professionalism behind them deserve a chance to succeed... especially the one program that was developed by Cessna, under the direction of recently 'retired' CEO Jack Pelton.

ANN had a chance to talk to one of Cessna' leads in their LSA/Skycatcher program, Julie Filucci, about their ambitions for the Skycatcher and ow they intend to integrate into a community that is woefully hesitant about the kind of change that this aircraft (and others like it) might come to represent.

FMI: www.cessna.com, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews