What will sell an LSA?
 

Here is my thinking on what will sell an LSA.

I'm sure all LSA's are going to meet the max speed limits so you can't use speed to sell the plane. Stall? Same thing! Everyone will be at the mins and max for stall and the one that boasts slowest stall speed can't really use that to sell the plane. So what sells these planes? These four things, creative features, useful load, price, and looks are what will sell the planes. My thoughts of these four points are thus:

Looks: Looks, are subjective. We all know that someone will buy something just for its looks, than to buy something else that is proven to be a better performer.

Price: Price is supposed to be what LSA is all about, right? Cessna Skycatcher $115,000??????????

Creative Features: Wow, with that plane, I can trailer it home and not pay high priced hanger fees. I can use 93 octane in this plane... and. etc, etc, etc.

Usefull load: Every LSA plane I have looked at can go 118mph, and all have six GPH advertised, and all stall at xx speed, and all have two seats, but this one can carry some baggage with half fuel and two people, hmmmmmm!!

Just my humble opinion.

Comments welcome.

McStealth

You're comparing to planes that you have to build yourself, and that come with no warranty, and are harder to insure. Compare against other certificated 2-seaters and it looks much better. The brand name really helps too.

Creative Feature: Light Aerobatic Capability
 

I think mcstealth is right that "creative features" may differentiate, and thus help sell, an LSA.

Certainly for me, some aerobatic capability would be a most useful such "creative feature."

John

P.S. Mel has kindly suggested I might build a Texas Sport Cub, and certify it to do aerobatics, but then I couldn't be part of the RV Family. :(

Space
 

One other selling point may be cockpit room...
Since a narrow fuselage might make the LSA too fast, I've noticed some of the European designs are making the cokpits wider.
For students used to elbowing their instructors in a C-150, this might be a selling point.... :)
Take top speed out, and the design criteria can lead to different solutions.

gil in Tucson

Nope. No comparison.
 

I'm not comparing any one plane to another. I'm not comparing brand name or warranties, or insurance issues. I'm just pointing out that 'price' was one of the platforms that touted LSA will be a huge bonus for GA. As I see it, if I had $115,000, I would be buying a very nice, completed RV 6, 7, on 9. Heck, I might buy a J model Mooney for that matter. I exagerate here but you get my gist. Also, the difference between buying, and bulding, is another argument all together.

Mcstealth

I see where you're coming from, but I don't think you're going to buy a brand new Mooney for $115k. My point is, there may be competition at the $115k price point with an already built RV, but people that would buy or build experimental are not the target market, nor are people that are sufficiently licensed (or, frankly, capable) to fly something as complex as a Mooney.

I agree with you that for $115k I could find a far more capable used airplane, but I'm not in the target market either. Those that are shopping for a brand new certificated airplane will view that price in comparison to other brand new certificated airplanes, and will find it quite reasonable. A brand new $115k Cessna will be a huge bonus to GA.

What will sell an LSA?
 

My opinion: $$$$

Cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, cheap for FBO's. It'd be pretty awesome to have a fleet of cheap LSA's to do basic flight training that can be rented for < $50 an hour.

Most people I know simply can't afford the $9000+ it takes to get a license. Just my opinion but flying's just too darn expensive for most and a $115,000 price tag doesn't exactly open doors. If someone can afford to drop a cool $100k on a toy (let's face it...these are big toys for most of us), they would have done it already.

On the other hand, it's nice that older folks (and younger folks!) in danger of loosing their medical have an option but I just don't see this revitalizing anything unless the price comes down.

I hope I'm wrong.

I'd say you're pretty much right on here. However, I'd separate these into paper qualities and flying qualities.

Paper qualities will include useful load and speed. 500lb is a minimum, and 550 is pretty useful, pardon the pun. We have 600lb and that works out well.

Flying qualities include visibility, control harmony and ease of landing. Of these, the last is the hardest to judge, particularly for a young pilot, and the most important.

The CT sells itself very well on paper, but is trickier to land. The Evektor sells itself better in flight, but can be limited on load and expensive. They are the two best sellers by far. I'm not sure where Cessna will come in.

TODR

Expect to pay 2x that amount :o :mad: :(

Wish they'd make one with a six pack, I think it would be cheaper and lighter. Flight schools would also price it cheaper as it's not a glass panel. The problem is that it would be harder to sell for Cessna and wouldn't make financial sense.

Not so on weight...
 

Paul... not so on the weight.

Two vacuum gyros, a vacuum pump and an electric gyro weigh more than a Dynon D-180 or equivalent.... and that doesn't even take into account the weight of the two pitot/static instrument and all of the engine instruments.
Check the weights out in the catalogs... :)
Since gross weight is a hard limit for the LSA, any gyro stuff will be Dynon or equivalent....

gil in Tucson