The unique thing about the Evolution is that there is no certified equivalent – at any cost.
As I posted earlier, The Market has simply avoided developing anything reasonably compact. It believes (rightly or wrongly) that anybody with €1-2M will happily pay €4-5M to get some extras. I am not so sure about this because a new fully loaded SR22 is not far from €1M but the Evo would eat it for breakfast on every metric.
Is it really true that there are people with 1M and then there is a huge gap? Maybe the “gap” is the used TBM700/850 market which runs from 1M to 3M…
The Grob 140 was interesting in a similar way to the Evo but it was unpressurised which would limit the usability considerably. Similar price maybe to the (uncertified) Evolution. Grob of course went bust…
Peter wrote:
Peter 31-May-16 11:35 #37
The unique thing about the Evolution is that there is no certified equivalent – at any cost.
That can be said about most homebuilts, and is one of the main reasons they are gaining in popularity. There aren’t many 172 and Cherokee homebuilt look alike. There exists no certified alternatives to RV, Lancair (a normal one 
) or a Europa or a Sonex or this Cozy for that matter.
Certified aircraft tends to converge on a 4 seat trainer type and 4 seat travelling type exclusively. In that respect the Evolution is rather main stream, only it has taken it as far as it is possible to go without going overboard ( although it is definitely on the very edge).
Peter wrote:
The Market has simply avoided developing anything reasonably compact. It believes (rightly or wrongly) that anybody with €1-2M will happily pay €4-5M to get some extras. I am not so sure about this because a new fully loaded SR22 is not far from €1M but the Evo would eat it for breakfast on every metric.
Well, even non-certified Evolution is about 1,5 million in the US for the kit alone IIRC. It’s reasonable to assume that a certified one would be significantly more expensive. Not to mention you’d have to pay for full assembly. And you’re forgetting the Meridian (and the Mirage) which isn’t a 4-5 million proposition. As far as Cirrus is concerned, the Evo would compete with their jet.
The Evo kit is 650k USD. 1.5 million is more like the fully completed and pimped out kit. That is you buy a new turbine. You can also buy an used one and run it into the ground.
Shorrick_Mk2 wrote:
The Evo kit is 650k USD. 1.5 million is more like the fully completed and pimped out kit. That is you buy a new turbine. You can also buy an used one and run it into the ground.
I just wrote what I roughly remembered from their website. It’s actually 1.415 and it’s an estimate (which I didn’t recall). I have no idea what that estimate includes but I assumed a new engine is included which, for me, is part of the kit (although you buy it separately I think, or did they have an option to ship it as well?). Essentially everything but the cost of putting it together. However, since I now realize it’s an estimate, it could include some labor as well. Their old website had costs broken down more (perhaps it’s somewhere on the new one, I didn’t see it at a cursory look).
If we’re discussing where a certified version would fit on the market, the option of buying a used engine really isn’t relevant.
The 1.4 estimate is the complete-build estimate.
The 2016 kit pricing is here: http://www.lancair.com/kit-pricing/
I have been in contact with someone outside Europe (but not in the US) who looked at the Evolution closely.
Apparently most of them are built “professionally” i.e. the “51%” is done by a serial builder who builds it to order and then sells it on to the real owner. This causes the price to go up about 1.5×. Accordingly, there can be hiccups in the build process because some of these builders are better organised than others. The eventual quality is always good because the plane is essentially built under factory supervision.
IMHO it is also no coincidence that the two examples known in “political Europe” are both owned by hugely wealthy people with, it appears, exceedingly good connections. Their mission profiles are also interesting. They very rarely fly to places where they might get unwelcome attention.
One can do lots of philosophical contemplating about what a homebuilt is, what it should be and so on. It’s the same thing with microlights. Some microlight pilots are purists, a microlight IS a garden chair contraption with a lawn mover engine. For others, microlights are a chance to get a state of the art in aerodynamics and composite design combined with all the newest glass gadgets, and can fly on autopilot for 7 hours straight at 150 kts.
The more advanced a homebuilt kit is (in performance, design, systems and build processes), the less homebuilt it is, in the right sense of the word. There is a waste space of different “grades”, and the Evolution is far out in a corner where the homebuilt regulations are used to it’s fullest to create what essentially is a professionally produced hot rod. It is no more homebuilt than a more than average exotic hand made Italian super sports car.
In my opinion the Evolution is ridiculous (as a homebuilt, but not as a homebuilt aircraft – if you have the money), but that is beside the point. What is more ridiculous is the notion that an aircraft has to be certified, that airworthiness and certified are somehow synonyms. A hombuilt is a personal/recreational aircraft, while a certified aircraft also can be used for commercial tasks. Almost all small privately owned aircraft are used for personal and/or recreational tasks. Very few are used commercially.
But, do you care?
The Evolution must be the best example going of a non-certified plane which simply does not exist in a certified form (why are there no "simple and compact turboprops without the €10,000 DVD player and all the other crap etc etc etc). And that is one of the reasons for getting into the non-certified scene.
At every level, loads of people fly non-certified planes which they didn’t build. Quite a few on EuroGA, too.
Peter wrote:
The Evolution must be the best example going of a non-certified plane which simply does not exist in a certified form
I disagree. Almost all homebuilts are their own best examples of exactly that. Even my tiny little Onex; fully aerobatic, single seat, cruise at 130 kts for 4h, can take off and land everywhere, room for lots of luggage, folding wings (carrier principle ) – can be parked in an ordinary car garage, or at any odd space in any hangar. There is nothing in the certified world like it, and it never will be.
The Evolution is an example of the ultimate turboprop travelling machine, but there are indeed certified examples doing this just as nicely. They are slightly larger, more expensive, but the mission profile is the same. The Evolution is probably the least “homebuildy” of them all, in all kinds of way. But as an aircraft it is probably better than all it’s certified counterparts because it is tailor made for the pilot and a couple of passengers, and nothing else.
