Originally Posted by
rutan around
3 If you are keen on building you could build in the experimental category a J450 four seater. for around $90,000 AUD ($69,300 USD)
Then for ...... Dah Dah......not half the price, not a quarter the price but about one fifth of the Cessna price you could own a new aircraft that does all the things highlighted above.
Are you seriously persisting with a price comparison between the 172 manufactured in a factory by paid employees and an airplane you build your self (and thus pay nothing for the labor) which does not meet the regulatory requirements met by the 172, and cannot be used in commercial operations?
Originally Posted by
rutan around
1 We don't have a C172 equivalent certified normal category aircraft.
Right. That's kind of my point, You haven’t offered any kind of a reasonable comparison. There is a huge expense resulting from certification with a standard airworthiness certificate. A special airworthiness certificate (LSA and Primary) is much simpler and less complicated. That translates directly to "Less expensive" And the special airworthiness certificates carry limitations which the standard airworthiness certificates do not have. For some potential purchasers, those limitations may not be serous drawbacks. That's well and good, but that doesn't make the comparison valid. The cost of achieving Normal category certification is high, much higher than the cost of LSA or Primary category certification. I'm not saying that is the only reason for 172's high price, but it's part of it. Comparisons with LSA or Primary aircraft, and especially uncertificated aircraft built with amateur labor are completely inane.
Perhaps the reason there aren't direct comparisons is that people have had the idea to build a comparable aircraft for substantially cheaper and after studying the question have discovered that they couldn't.
Off the top of my head, the closest comparison with the 172 of a recently (20 years or so) certificated normal category aircraft is the Cirrus SR20. An imperfect comparison at best, but in approximately the same size/number of seats/ engine power class. Current price of an absolute bare bones base model is $389,000 USD. If the 172 is unjustifiably overpriced, why doesn't Cirrus price the SR20 at 2/3 or even half the price of a new 172?