A substantial part of the certification costs for light aircraft is due to their being in the same FAA Part 23 category as 19 seat commuter airliners and business jets.
This has been partly resolved by the LSA and Microlight categories but these are too restrictive and what we need is a separate category for single engine types up to a sensible weight limit of maybe 1500 Kg.
The other half of the problem is small production volumes, a manufacturer needs to sell a lot of aircraft to cover the initial design and certification costs, the problem here is the decline in the number of private pilots. Getting more people back into flying is a difficult question and costs are a big factor.
Fewer manufacturers each getting a larger share of the market could also make a big difference to the cost of new aircraft.
Last edited by The Ancient Geek; 18th Sep 2015 at 11:27.