“Predictions are uttered by prophets (free of charge), by clairvoyants (who usually charge a fee, and are therefore more honored in their day than prophets), and by futurologists (salaried). Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants and futurologists. It is not a business of novelists. A novelist’s business is lying. “
Ursula K. Le Guin
Few questions can surpass the question “What would you do if you had a million dollars?” in cliched and banality. Yet, there are no cliched answers to this question. If you ask me, before responsibility, empathy, and common sense will kick-in, my impulsive answer would be “Buy a plane”. So this week we are going to indulge in conjectural research of small aircrafts that one can purchase on a budget of a million dollars. This research may seem ostentatious, but I hope it will surprise you with curious facts like “The air capital of the world” is Wichita, Kansas and a tiny country of Czech Republic supplies a quarter of world’s Light Sport Aircrafts.
Top Single Engine Aircraft Manufacturers:
Textron Aviation - formed in 2014, it has acquired Hawker, Beechcraft and Cessna. Primary manufacturing facilities are located in Wichita and Independence, Kansas; Columbus, Georgia; and Chihuahua, Mexico. *
Cessna. Since it first flew in the mid-1950s, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk has become the world’s most-produced aircraf. It is utilitarian, more affordable than its counterparts and simple to fly. Factories are based Wichita, Kansas
Beechcraft The Beechcraft Bonanza was introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft corporation. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous production longer than any other aircraft in history . Also based in Wichita, Kansas
Piper Aircraft, Inc is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. It was distinguished in the late 20th century as being one of the top “Big Three” in its field of general aviation manufacturing.
Mooney is a Chinese-owned aircraft manufacturer based in Kerrville, Texas, United States. It manufactures single-engined piston-powered general aviation aircraft. Mooney’s achievements are: the first pressurized single-engine, piston-powered aircraft, the M22 Mustang, production of the fastest civilian single-engine piston-powered aircraft in the world, the M20TN Acclaim Type S.
Diamond Aircraft Industries - Diamond Aircraft Industries is a Chinese-owned manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, based in Austria. It is the third-largest manufacturer of aircraft for the general aviation sector
Cirrus Design Corporation* was founded in 1984 to produce a single-engine pusher-propeller homebuilt aircraft originally sold as a kit. The company is owned by a subsidiary of the Chinese government-owned AVIC , and is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
Light Sports Airplanes - this is a separate category defined by FAA. *light sport aircraft*, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircrafts. They are cheaper and simple to fly, but have a lot of limitations (like a speed limit of 120 knots). Although these airplanes are categorized as for recreational use, they are also very capable cross country airplanes. Surprisingly a lot of companies producing LSAs are from Czech Republic (I saw a statistic that 24% of LSA are produced in CZ).
BRM Aero Bristell is a family company that focuses primarily on individual orders also based in Czech Republic. Founded recently - in 2009.
TL–Ultraligh is an aircraft manufacturer based in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. The company started out as a builder of ultralight trikes and now specializes in the design and manufacture of composite ultralight aircraft.
Czech Aircraft Works (CZAW) - (successor of Czech Aircraft Works) is an aircraft manufacturer based in the Czech Republic.
Sling Aircraft is a South African two-seater light aircraft designed and produced by Sling Aircraft in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam* is an Italian aeronautics manufacturer. It was founded in 1986. The company has two primary activities: producing aircraft components for various other manufacturers, and manufacturing its own range of light aircraft
Blackwing - The Blackwing is a Swedish ultralight and light-sport *aircraft* introduced in 2015. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or complete and ready-to-fly.
** As I was finishing the research, my friend Andrew has sent me the tip to investigate OTTO AVIATION, whose Celera 500L. Bold claims of the website promise a six-person private craft that promises to fly at jet speeds, but with eight times lower fuel consumption and a range that’s twice that of a comparably sized craft. Will it become the new Cessna 172 or would it become another overhyped Lily drone?
Reference and further reading:
* [5 Sport Airplanes You Can Buy For Less Than $200,000 - YouTube]
Open-source software development, in my opinion, is the most beautiful manifestation of the human ability to collaborate. Without a doubt, it has transformed the world of software development and as a consequence, the way we do business, build companies and develop tools. Currently, most of the open-source software projects are happening on Github. Some in Bitbucket. But the new kids just arrived on the block. Getee and Coding might not have the latest kicks, but popularity contest rarely won on objectivity and historical track records.
Further reading: China is building a GitHub alternative called Gitee – TechCrunch
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[The New Dating Timeline: Comparing Before-Times to 2020 - Man Repeller](https://www.manrepeller.com/2020/08/the-new-dating-timeline-comparing-before-times-to-2020.html)
Mountains - they aspire poetry, adventures, paintings, narratives, cliche metaphors … and a new data visualization genre “stock art”