drseti wrote:The market produces what the buyers demand. They take a perfectly good $100k LSA, and then add dual glass, dual WAAS GPS, dual ADAHARS, dual backup batteries, soft-start modules, xm satellite radio and wx, cordless noise cancelling headsets, memory foam contoured seats, self-flexing prop, climate control, a 3 axis autopilot, yaw dampener, fuel injected engine, parachute, leather interior, ADS-B in and out, and 3-axis electric trim. Now nobody can afford it, and there's no payload left - but that's what the customers at the Oshkosh booth said they wanted!
Excellent and accurate points.
I think in many regards some buyers will always want what the manufacturers tell them they need.
If you ask most prospective LSA buyers what their "mission" is I'll bet it's not much different from mine. I wanted a modern , cost effective, economical, fun to fly, easy to get in/out of the hangar, made in USA, easy to refuel, good avionics, and no expensive and heavy needless frills.
So, I bought a new RV-12 SLSA and flew it home from the factory. In 2014 it was $125k and empty weight is 765lbs. All metal. I got all the options included in that price including paint.
My hangar neighbor built his exactly like mine. Took him 6 years and it's still unpainted but he's spent considerably less than I did.
Vans is currently offering the RV-12 with a choice of engines the 912ULS or the 912iS engine and with the latter and either dual SkyView or dual Garmin G3x screens the latest factory price I heard was around $148k , either way a ton of money less than some top end LSAs which incidentally perform the same 'mission' just for a whole lot more of your money.
My point is, if you specifically define your personal flying mission, decide what you really 'need', and realistically look at real world costs you can fly Light Sport at significantly more affordable costs that quarter of a million dollar heavy LSA.
That said I have an autopilot that I don't really 'need' but it's nice if I need to have a sandwich and soda on a long cross country. My SkyView has HITs which are little boxes on the screen you fly through... never use it . It has synthetic vision... never use it. But they come with SkyView anyway.
There are a few used RV-12sLSAs for sale at around $95k with pretty low hours, and ELSAs are even less. The Sky Arrow that Eddie mentions as the thread starter still isn't bad compared to some top end models. The new Glasair Merlin is around the same price.
Looking back I could have saved myself good money by waiting for a lightly used RV-12 SLSA.
If you do your homework, realistically define your needs, and stay away from the temptations of buying what you don't need and will never use you can actually enjoy light sport flying fairly economically.