Are the New Ones Really Better? An Inquiry About Sporty Looking Airplanes of All Ages

This abstract and the following paper are written in conversational, rather than technical, language. The only technical element of the paper is the statistical analysis of the information collected, thoroughly but informally, from Reference 1 , Jane's “All the World's Aircraft.” It started as a personal curiosity on my part, but when I had the statistical results I thought they would be of interest to aircraft buffs of all ages, not just old codgers like me. I was curious if the sporty looking new personal airplanes really are better performing than the groovy (is that term used anymore?) looking airplanes of my youth. I divided old and new by the year 1970, giving plenty of candidates in both groups (about one hundred in total) and compared their max cruising speeds for the horsepower installed. The groups include two and four place models, each with a logical subcategory of fixed or retractable gear. Do the new ones get more speed for the horsepower they carry? The results are in - and displayed below.

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See papers presented at Wichita Aviation Technology Congress & Exhibition, August 2008, Wichita, KS, USA, Session: Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) and Single Engine Props

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