Snoopy
I’m told that the Chinese airline industry is setting up flight schools in China to supply their rapidly growing airline industry.
A_and_C wrote:
I am told that you are very unlikely to be able to buy one of these aircraft as a private individual because Piper are struggling to meet the demands from Asian flight schools
These flight schools, are they in the USA or in Asia?
This aircraft is intended to fill the market for trainers, you will be hard pressed to find a C152 in the USA now and in Europe you can expect to pay £45k for a reasonably equipped C152 that was built in 1980.
The Chinese have just about cleared out the used trainer stock in the USA so with this in mind Piper offer a training PA28 with the power to operate well above ISA temperature.
I am told that you are very unlikely to be able to buy one of these aircraft as a private individual because Piper are struggling to meet the demands from Asian flight schools.
But where’s the economics of a 260k aeroplane with a bigger less efficient engine? I see nothing about FADEC.
$75k worth of economics, versus an almost identical aircraft save a couple of seats.
Dave_Phillips wrote:
they’ve just dusted-off the1980s Piper Cadet and swapped a 180hp Continental in place of a 160hp Lycoming
It’s a Continental built Lycoming clone, no? If so, it runs on Avgas.
I don’t think this is the kind of product that needs to generate a lot of excitement on forums, or be noticed on forums. Sales are to flight schools, mainly based on economics. This is not a consumer product.
Call me a cynic, but they’ve just dusted-off the1980s Piper Cadet and swapped a 180hp Continental in place of a 160hp Lycoming. All performance criteria, including useful load despite the loss of two seats, are exactly the same – strange for a 20hp hike :headscratch:. For the IFR version they’ve managed to knock $75K off the book price of an Archer. If I were in the market for an Archer, I would be trying to understand how a couple of seats and a G1000 warranted a $75K premium.
Underwhelming is an understatement.
A bit disappointed that they made quite a big deal out of this when it still looks like same old archer with new avionics. Can that engine run on low octane fuel?
Bathman wrote:
I have to say I can’t think of anything more underwhelming
Well, it’s for the training market, and there these things probably make sense. That said, it remains to be seen if any of the new electric trainers coming to market make any dent in the traditional a/c sales figures.