An 'Innovation Plateau' Hits GA For 2006

By nearly all accounts, 2006 will go down as a banner year for general aviation. Sales of GA planes remain healthy, with a varied selection of capable aircraft. You likely won't find many new plane owners complaining they couldn't find just what they were looking for (whether it was available at the price they were looking for, though, is a different matter.)

Furthermore, the wide selection of new planes available also serves to drive down prices on existing airframes. Whereas news planes can still be considered a seller's market... if a buyer is considering a used plane, they would seem to have the upper hand.

Even in the face of ever-climbing fuel prices, buyers don't seem to be put off too much by sticker shock, if GAMA's year-to-date numbers for 2006 are an indication. People are buying, planes have little chance to collect dust on dealer lots... manufacturers are happy.

Not all is well, though. Several issues that could tank -- I'll say it again, TANK -- the latest GA boom are just over the horizon. Most visible is the impending FAA funding battle... but there are very real concerns also about attracting new pilots to the fold, and insuring they are properly trained. As the baby boomer generation has aged, so has the pilot community... and we're not bringing in new bodies anywhere quickly enough. Yet.

The issue of pilot safety also looms large. The GA community was hit this year with several high-profile accidents... and now more than ever, the "general" media is paying close attention to any and all incidents and mishaps. All one needs to do is set up a news alert for "plane crash"... your inbox will be flooded with reports. All day. Every day.

There is also the question of new technologies. The dawning of the 21st century brought with it a plethora of new and innovative products for the general aviation pilot. Glass cockpits, GPS, TAWS, TCAS, ballistic parachutes... the list goes on. Perhaps it is to be expected that 2006 saw relatively little true innovation in the GA segment, after such a virtual flood of revolutionary new technologies.

If there's one thing history shows us, though, it's that if the GA market doesn't innovate... it WILL stagnate, and sales will plummet as a result.

Over the next several days, Aero-News will consider the key areas that impacted general aviation in 2006. We will also examine how GA is working to bring new pilots into the fold... and whether those efforts are having an impact.

Today, we'll examine the seeming lack of new and innovative technology available to the GA segment in 2006.

Innovation

I'll admit it -- I had to think awhile for the a notable (truly) new technology to hit the general aviation market this year. I finally arrived at, "You can now get a Cirrus in an actual color, not just white."

Of course, there WERE a few other achievements for 2006. Columbia certified and started installations of their all-electric EVADE anti-icing system. And speaking of Cirrus, the Duluth-based planemaker unveiled its speedier Cirrus Turbo (shown above) at Oshkosh. That's noteworthy not only because, hey, it's a speedier Cirrus -- but also due to the company's agreement with Tornado Alley Turbo (which holds the STC) to supply the turbonormalizing system.

On the opposite side of the fuel spectrum, diesel powerplants continue to make inroads on the US marketplace, a charge led almost entirely (and quite capably) by Diamond's DA42 Twin Star. (The mere fact we're talking about a new multiengine trainer is an accomplishment in itself.)

Van Bortel Aircraft in Arlington, TX also announced it would install the same Thielert Centurion 1.7-liter engine that powers the Twin Star on new Cessna 172s. Furthermore, they will do so with Cessna's blessing, and support. So while progress on making diesel powerplants more widely available has been excrutiatingly slow... there HAS been progress. We'll call that a win.

2006 was also a BIG year for light jets -- with the certifications and first deliveries of Cessna's Mustang and the Eclipse 500. Adam Aircraft continues to make deliberate progress with its A700, as well. A subsegment of the VLJ market -- the single-engine jet -- also appears to be coming into its own, with the first flight of Diamond's D-Jet on the smaller end, and the unveiling of the grande-sized PiperJet at NBAA.

There were several advancements on the avionics front. Garmin unveiled its GMX200 multifunction display in April; it followed that with the introduction of the mega-cool GPSMAP 496 at Oshkosh. Forget "everything but the kitchen sink" -- we're pretty sure the 496 includes the sink, too.

Glass panels technology continued its march of domination of GA cockpits, with Avidyne's Entegra system finally making it onto the Piper Seminole twin. Garmin announced a retrofit option for its G1000 system for King Airs.

On the homebuilder side, Garmin unveiled its G900X glass panel for the Experimental market. It's a beautiful setup... with a Monet-level pricetag of $66,795, less installation. (Information that led one reader to ask -- in three different emails -- "Seriously?")

These are all notable achievements, to be sure... but they all represent new applications of existing technology, versus true innovation. 2006 began with great hopes for new engine technology, in particular... hopes that, alas, failed to reach fruition.

Where's My FADEC?

If you were hoping 2006 would finally bring Full Authority Digital Electronics Control  to your small piston cockpit... well, there's always next year. Or the year after that, etc. While development continues to bring FADEC to the current generation of piston powerplants... it's moving at a glacial pace. (ANN has heard one manufacturer express 'disgust' over waiting years to offer FADEC in its planes... only to be told by the enginemaker to wait just a bit longer.)

To date, only one general aviation piston aircraft -- the supposedly-in-production Liberty XL2 -- offers FADEC controls, on its 125-horsepower Continental IOF-240. That's not enough, not by a longshot.

Promising Engine Tech In Limbo

And speaking of FADEC... 2006 saw the shakeup of the promising BRP-Rotax V6 engine program. The Austrian enginemaker told Aero-News in November it still intended to complete certification tests of the all-aluminum, liquid-cooled, FADEC-controlled V6 aircraft engine by December '06, in the hopes another company would pick up the program. No word yet on whether the company met that goal.

So, for now, pilots will continue to fly even the most advanced piston aircraft... powered by essentially the same engines that powered their grandfather's V35 Bonanza. That's not progress.

Will 2007 Herald The 'Next Big Thing' For GA?

After the blitz of new technologies that hit GA in the past several years -- glass cockpits, TCAS, composites, etc. -- perhaps it's only natural 2006 didn't see much in the way of truly new offerings.

Nevertheless, we hope 2007 will show us something new... something that will REALLY knock our socks off. We're not asking for much... a sub-$40K light sport aircraft that can achieve low-earth orbit would do it (grin.)

On the more realistic side of the spectrum, by this time next year we may be looking at the dawning of an entirely new segment: the personal jet. The aforementioned D-Jet is but the first entry into this exciting field... which may finally bring the Jetson's-esque concept of the "family jet" into reality. Cirrus Design's clandestine "The Jet" is another intriguing potential entry here... and there are vague rumors of other companies looking at this field, as well.

Let's face it: short of the Moller flying car concept FINALLY taking off -- we're not holding our breath -- personal jets may very well mark the kind of innovation that could breathe new life into general aviation.

But one thing is clear, at least to us. If a GA planemaker or engine manufacturer has something truly new to show us, now is the time to do so, while sales are hot; if the segment waits much longer, even the most promising new gadget, panel, engine, or aircraft could falter in the marketplace... not because of lack of innovation, but lack of interest. 

Coming Thursday: The Political Battle Facing GA

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