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As a part of long-format fly-in in Page, AZ, a circus of Flight Design CTs visited Cal Black, UT (U96) on October 18. Photographed is an assembly of 6 CTSW and 5 CTLS models, 11 total.

The picture is basically what the present (or future) of personal aviation could look like if the American middle class kept their money. The increased pressure from the regulation created the LSA format: a light (600 kg gross), 2-seat airplane with a maximum speed of 120 knots. More than 100 companies threw their hats into the ring of the LSA competition, and the Flight Design emerged victorious. Their iconic product, the CT, is significantly smaller than typical "Cessna" that was the face of personal aviation in the 1980s. It is, however, much faster, burns less gas, and carries more load than Cessna 150/152, the classic 2-seater. It also includes an airframe parachute as standard equipment.

However, CT's amazing performance came at a significant price, and very few could afford it. So where Cessna sold at the order of 10,000 airplanes, Flight Design sold a 100 (current fleet in the U.S. is just above 300). Note that CT is about 1/3rd price of a new Cessna 172: $150,000 versus $450,000 in 2014. Where CT is unaffordable, the aluminum classic is downright insane (as in, you have to be clinically insane to buy one).

UPDATE: There's a video at YouTube by Loop, which focuses on CTLS and includes footage from a previous fly-in in Page.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 05:57 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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