WOW! Now there's a new and novel sales approach! How about toning down the personal attacks?Originally Posted by Michael-Coates
WOW! Now there's a new and novel sales approach! How about toning down the personal attacks?
Cheers,
Jerry
NC22375
65LA out of 07N Pennsylvania
We do not advertise in the magazine so there is no addvetorial content, heck, Pipistrel just won the richest ever prize given in aviation and won the NASA / CAFE Challenge for the third time in a row. The only payments that we make to the EAA is for our sites at EAA air venture each year.
Hello Bill, let's answer the questions you have asked.
Self-employed full-time selling aircraft since 1992. In different markets I represent different manufacturers including Pipistrel, TL ultralight, Savage CUB, Allegro and X-Air I am also indirectly involved in several others aircraft representations behind the scenes and I am also the owner of XCOM Avionics.
We are our own stand-alone company and represent these products in different markets. We are not the manufacturer of these aircraft only a representative.
The company Pipistrel has been going since 1985, they are major aviation players throughout the world and last year they won the European business awards beating other companies like Airbus, Siemens etc....
At the moment the Pipistrel Taurus G4 has been nominated for the 2012 design of the year by the main Museum in London, we have an aircraft flying around the world for the second time unassisted. Popular science magazine declares the Taurus G4 among the top 10 innovations of 2011, Pipistrel were the first company to fly a two seat electric aircraft, they were the first company to fly a four seat electric aircraft, they have produced the largest output electric aircraft ever flown, they have been awarded the Lindbergh prize for the best electric aircraft, they have won the Paris to Madrid green air challenge. The Taurus electro received a gold medal from the European industrial design Museum, the Sinus was awarded motor glider of the year in 2010, they were involved in the hydro-genius which was the first hydrogen fuel cell aircraft to ever fly. In 2008 Pipistrel were in the top 10 innovations by popular science magazine and I can go on but I think you get the background and innovation of the company from this information.
Additionally, Pipistrel are one of the greenest companies in Europe producing their own power and the only waste leaving the factory is sewage, they are not even connected to the electricity grid, none of the contaminated air from the factory which includes the spray booths and sending areas of the leaves the factory to contaminate the environment.
Toyota uses Pipistrel as the launching platform for all of the new Lexus and Prius electric cars released in Europe, and I have been an EAA member since 1997. Hope this answers all of your questions
It was not meant to be a personal attack, it is just frustrating to read information from people which know nothing about what they are talking about!..... as an example, if you buy a Mercedes in the USA do you think or your payments go directly to Germany ?
Not connected to the grid??
Does the factory shut down on cloudy, windless days?
Pipistrel store the energy they need for evening use, bad weather etc. The complete factory can actually run for around three days (the equivalent of) in total darkness and then is all else fails they can start their own biofuel generator. Having said this in the six or seven years the factory has been in operation like this they have only used the generator for a few hours on its regular once per month test run.
to find out more about the building please go to this link http://www.pipistrel.si/top-quality/...our-philosophy passover the bit at the top of the page which talks about aircraft and then have a look at the building information about one third of the way down the page. Total innovation!
Ah....so to keep prices low, they decided to slash the budget for aesthetics. That thing is so ugly that it remind me about the old joke about what do a fat girl and a moped have in common.The composite ALPHA--check out the the impressively long list of fully equipped included standard features that are usually, if not always, options on other aircraft. And they claim with the same cruise as a 172 and 1000fpm. Someone has seen a different vision, acted upon it coupled with aggressively slashed pricing.
Amen to that Jerry. The only LSAs I'd be caught in are the older models or a copy of one of them. Everything else just has this strange sperm with wings and a tail aesthetic I can't find appealing.There are a number of good airplanes available for under $20,000. Not fancy, minimal bells and whistles, but at 72 years old you can't complain about it's maintainability
In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary: Come again? You're joking.....right Frank? Any slower and you'll have to start worrying about what would happen if you take a birdstrike from behind.as it's typical cruise is 72-85 knots....too fast for me to really enjoy looking at the scenery.
My thoughts exactly.When Pipistral starts delivering the "Alpha" model to customers in the US for $85K, I'll become a believer.
Pipistrel. Pro and con:
Pro, it seems that the factory in Slovenia has been in business for over 10 years and has produced and sold a number of planes, especially gliders.
They are listed in the current issue of PLANE AND PILOT as in the top 20 LSA designs.
I don't think this current model, the Alpha is produced yet.
If if can really be sold in the U S, complete and flying for $86,000 it may find some customers. Maybe time will tell.
I don't know of any negative info on the sales rep Mr. Coates, could not find him on Goggle and take it that he is not the former NASA head.
I am a glider pilot, don't know much about their planes, but I'll check.
Mr. Coates says he is an EAA member since '97 so maybe he did not just join to sell these planes.
The middle ground: I don't have any use for a sort of Cessna lite, but maybe some flight schools do. And there are people who have to have the latest new thing, just like granite counter tops, even if it really works no better than what came before. Just being new will draw some students, especially younger ones.
Now it is not very high performance and for $86k one can buy a good used 172,an ok 182, or even a Mooney 201 and have a real useful airplane, but of course not an Lsa. $86 K would buy you several of the best Cubs or Champs on the market, or a new Aerotrek which is a flying a tested design, sort of Cub like.
Con: The big negative factor here as far as I can see is that while it may go just fine. What if it doesn't?
You are asked to put down real U S dollars, I think $15,000 about 18% of the purchase price, a larger % portion than it takes to buy a house in most states. What do you get for this? You get a "contract" which is really just a promise. And as for a I can tell that promise comes from a factory in a former Iron Curtain country, one a pilot I know had to defect from to get her freedom.
Maybe they are all democratic now and are the good guys and wouldn't think of abscounding with some customers capitalist dollars. But again, what if they do? They've got your money and you've got their promise, not exactly a fair value trade. I don't think those funds are going to be in held in escrow in any U S bank until the plane is built and ready for sale here.
The plane might be produced and delivered just as promised. But the price could go up, as exchange rates change or our FAA makes them change some design part, there are a number of maybes. Shipping cost may go up.
You'd have to talk to a lawyer and don't take Mr. Coates or anyone's word, really look at and examine the written contract. In the end I doubt if a U S buyer is going to have any rights if the contract by a co in Slovenia in not fulfilled. I think you'd be "turning the other cheek to the Chechs", if i may make a little pun.
And if as Mr. Coates says, they just won a $1.35 Million U S D, why do they need the customer to do their financing?
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 01-11-2012 at 10:58 PM.
Supposedly you can get a new Luscombe 8a variant for around 85,000 they sure look nice with that radial too! ( I still can't afford one)it's really about supply and demand, and regulation ,if you want an airplane at working class prices the route you will have to take is ...... build it! The future of aviation is that it is in decline, at least GA, just like many other over regulated activities, but there are still avenues for the hobbyist that's what EAA is about.
I think the LSA price being too high is why that market hasn't taken off as expected. Of course everybody wants a well equipped plane, but not that many of those who want one can afford one. I'm gonna have to stay with my paid for Skyhawk as long as I can still pass a medical, but it sure would be nice not to have to report to the sky Gods every time I get a fart stuck sideways.
That being said, and as already pointed out, the Pipstrel isn't gonna be any less than the competition once you get it out the door. Unless our dollar starts doing a lot better that won't change either.
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