2021 EAB Aircraft Registration Summary

[rwanttaja]

As usual, I've downloaded the end-of-year FAA registration database and run my various processes to examine the trends for a number of homebuilt aircraft types. Note that these count only aircraft registered as Experimental Amateur-Built. It does not count aircraft that do not list a certification type (about 5,000 aircraft with homebuilt-like names) nor aircraft registered as Special Light Sport or Experimental Light Sport (e.g., SLSA or ELSA RV-12s).

Type	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Air Command	36	35	31	31	25	19	18	18	18
Aventura	71	68	63	65	57	50	49	50	48
Avid	359	359	343	352	342	296	289	280	278
Baby/Junior Ace	230	228	228	230	225	204	201	199	197
Bede BD-4	98	91	93	92	90	78	82	78	79
Bede BD-5	49	43	40	41	38	34	35	32	31
Benson Gyro	271	218	200	198	158	105	79	64	62
Bowers Fly Baby	183	168	167	167	160	140	139	135	130
Carbon Cub (EAB)	29	46	64	90	119	177	244	308	331
Challenger	584	594	586	593	578	491	480	476	461
Christen Eagle	214	207	206	205	204	194	192	192	193
Cozy	158	160	164	165	163	151	151	156	158
Glasair	601	606	596	603	599	571	571	563	558
GlaStar/Sportsman	374	386	396	407	424	410	424	438	443
Harmon Rocket	88	85	87	85	85	80	77	75	78
Hatz	105	107	110	111	110	112	111	110	113
Kitfox	905	918	936	950	946	875	871	889	887
Kolb (Ex-AB)	248	241	236	235	227	205	198	186	181
Lancair (All Models)	835	847	855	875	866	824	826	834	839
Lancair IV	246	244	259	260	249	236	240	243	244
Midget Mustang	241	240	236	238	233	207	205	204	202
Murphy	173	171	171	176	174	156	161	159	160
Pietenpol	307	313	311	321	319	296	297	289	284
Pitts (EX-AB)	639	613	617	625	608	548	543	534	522
Pulsar/KIS	130	126	124	125	122	107	108	105	102
Quickie/Q2/Q200	168	148	140	143	130	109	103	100	98
Quicksilver EX-AB	170	163	156	162	154	134	127	129	131
RAF-2000 Gyro	113	114	110	111	90	69	69	69	66
Rand KR-2	194	175	167	167	154	132	132	124	115
RANS	627	638	659	677	673	636	651	652	663
RANS S-12	130	129	128	128	121	107	106	109	104
RANS S-6	200	201	208	213	211	204	205	200	198
RANS S-7	180	189	202	206	209	202	210	208	213
Rotorway	404	392	374	380	350	296	296	287	283
Rutan Long-EZ	428	418	416	417	406	379	380	378	369
Rutan Varieze	323	297	286	286	272	243	238	231	222
SeaRey	231	242	242	249	255	241	238	235	236
Sonerai	215	199	194	194	184	156	156	158	155
Sonex	383	420	451	484	497	486	510	527	532
Steen Skybolt	250	246	247	248	235	215	215	215	211
Stolp	404	396	399	402	385	358	349	354	342
Stolp Starduster	357	349	351	352	337	310	302	308	301
Thorp T-18	261	259	259	262	257	239	238	236	238
Vans	5745	5956	6110	6293	6414	6447	6634	6779	6960
Vans RV-3	155	154	158	160	152	149	149	149	149
Vans RV-4	952	956	955	965	958	921	921	921	922
Vans RV-6	1763	1783	1775	1795	1796	1731	1742	1737	1750
Vans RV-7	1000	1066	1118	1170	1220	1244	1285	1322	1358
Vans RV-8	1038	1082	1123	1161	1198	1215	1252	1278	1304
Vans RV-9	522	552	588	611	630	638	658	677	689
Vans RV-10	304	340	366	394	419	434	459	492	530
Vans RV-12 (EX-AB)	36	49	53	63	68	74	75	74	81
Vans RV-14	0	0	0	14	38	66	98	134	182
Velocity	232	237	235	240	236	222	224	228	228
Volksplane	104	95	85	86	76	48	47	48	48
Zenair	862	920	965	1013	1028	992	1013	1028	1066
Zenair CH-601	340	348	353	367	367	339	332	325	323
Zenair CH-701	331	334	348	351	347	318	328	333	329
Zenair CH-750	86	127	145	171	187	209	229	247	285
Overall	27946	27909	28078	28830	28451	26572	26842	26941	27117

Ron Wanttaja

[Frank Giger]

Thank you!

I really like the service you provide with the community, as it gives a window into where the E-AB community's head is. Some planes have gone down in popularity (as some fall off, there's not much to replace them), some have risen.

And a few remain steady over the time. The Pietenpol is the antithesis of C&C cut aluminum sheets with pre-drilled holes, yet it's numbers remain relatively unchanged since 2013.

[Airmutt]

Aw gee Frank I thought you were gonna bust Ron’s chops for not having a line item for all the Nieuports on the registry

[rwanttaja]

Thank you!

I really like the service you provide with the community, as it gives a window into where the E-AB community's head is. Some planes have gone down in popularity (as some fall off, there's not much to replace them), some have risen.

And a few remain steady over the time. The Pietenpol is the antithesis of C&C cut aluminum sheets with pre-drilled holes, yet it's numbers remain relatively unchanged since 2013.

It's even more interesting in that the figures I post are the *net* aircraft. In the nine-year period covered here, about 250 Pietenpols were removed from the FAA registry. The net has only dropped by 25 aircraft or so...that means that about 225 airplanes were added! Some of them are probably previously-deregistered aircraft, but that's still pretty good.

Aw gee Frank I thought you were gonna bust Ron’s chops for not having a line item for all the Nieuports on the registry

That's nothing, I'm waiting for an RVer to complain "Why do you show only 6940 EAB RVs on the FAA registry, and Van's says 11,000 have been completed!"

Ron "Smacking one fist into his palm menacingly" Wanttaja

[Kyle Boatright]

The one that comes as a surprise is Velocity. The baseline number of airplanes is relatively small, the factory is still in operation, yet the number of registered aircraft ain't moving.

[rwanttaja]

The one that comes as a surprise is Velocity. The baseline number of airplanes is relatively small, the factory is still in operation, yet the number of registered aircraft ain't moving.

Well, you are looking at the net change. During 2021, four EAB Velocities were removed from the registry. So four new ones were added to keep the net at 228. Still, that's not a lot....

Ron Wanttaja

[DonN]

While I appreciate the work done in reporting this, and I understand the issues with searching the FAA's database when anyone can call their aircraft anything they want and the plethora of typo's, I also have to protest the glaring absence of the Breezys, Woody's Pushers, and certainly all the Wittman aircraft, Tailwinds in particular.