onetrack said in post #47
Well, perhaps if some company had the wheelbarrow-sized cojones to introduce robotic manufacturing, the cost of the 172, or its modern equivalent, just might halve - and then more people could afford them, production would increase substantially, and cover the cost of the robotics - and GA might once again flourish.
Well actually there is a close Australian equivalent to the C172 that does have some clever manufacturing advantages over traditional cessnas. eg two men making 5 sets of of wings in 5 days while next door 5 men worked 5 weeks to make a set of similar sized aluminium wings.
This Ozzie aircraft has a better useful load , a wider cockpit , and a lower fuel burn. It does all this with the same or better cruise speed and range of a C172.
It costs $130K - $140 K if built by the factory. Compare that price with $492 K plus freight for the American machine.
What plane is the Ozzie competitor?
A Jabiru of course. Before going ballistic and berating me on this forum look up the specs yourself for the Jabiru J450 and for the Newbuild C172.