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Thread: Homebuilt Fleet Sizes - 2017

  1. #1
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Homebuilt Fleet Sizes - 2017

    Every new year, I download the FAA registration database and extract the number of homebuilt aircraft.

    First: Total aircraft on the FAA registry:
    Year
    All Aircraft
    Net Increase
    Total Deregistered
    New Aircraft
    EAB
    Net EAB Increase
    EAB Deregistered
    New EAB Aircraft
    2009
    374373
    -1751
    7018
    5267
    |
    31914
    672
    464
    1136
    2010
    373896
    -477
    5422
    4945
    |
    32682
    768
    309
    1077
    2011
    367857
    -6039
    11224
    5185
    |
    33038
    356
    666
    1022
    2012
    352198
    -15659
    20985
    5326
    |
    32041
    -997
    1951
    954
    2013
    317993
    -34205
    40188
    5983
    |
    27946
    -4095
    5013
    918
    2014
    312586
    -5407
    12588
    7181
    |
    27909
    -37
    1084
    1047
    2015
    314404
    1818
    8240
    10058
    |
    28078
    169
    781
    950
    2016
    320683
    6279
    4254
    10533
    |
    28830
    752
    225
    977
    2017
    312344
    -8339
    14961
    6622
    |
    28451
    -379
    1296
    917

    The total number of registered homebuilts dropped by 379 last year, and this was due to an increased number of aircraft deregistered by the FAA. You'll see the same effect in the "All Aircraft" columns. Not sure what happened last year, but it may be due to owners deciding not to maintain the listings of inactive/no-long-existing aircraft. As you can see, the "All Aircraft" section shows the same impact...a big jump in deregistrations.

    There were about 1020 new homebuilt N-Numbers last year, but roughly 100 were re-numbered existing aircraft. By my analysis, 917 brand-new homebuilts were added to the fleet last year. This is slightly less than average.

    Ron Wanttaja

  2. #2

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    I can't imagine that half of the Harmon Rockets fell off in a year...

  3. #3

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    Look at the Bensen gyros that have disappeared! Amazing how popular they once were but now just think how many are wasting away in the dark dusty corner of a garage!

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright View Post
    I can't imagine that half of the Harmon Rockets fell off in a year...
    You're right, and as I look at the data, I see some other discrepancies. I'm going to re-run the previous year's data to get clarification. I've deleted the message, and will re-post in a day or so.

    My guess is different assumptions were used in previous years.

    Ron Wanttaja
    Last edited by rwanttaja; 01-01-2018 at 07:11 PM.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by martymayes View Post
    Look at the Bensen gyros that have disappeared! Amazing how popular they once were but now just think how many are wasting away in the dark dusty corner of a garage!
    I started doing these analyses about twenty years ago. At that time, the Benson was the most-common homebuilt. Now, there are over 1700 in the list of deregistered aircraft.

    My guess is that Step 1 of the Benson plans said, "Register with the FAA".

    Ron Wanttaja

  6. #6
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    OK, let's try this again. The problem with my previous table stemmed from a change in processes midway through, and I reused data I'd generated earlier without checking. This'll hopefully be good, now...re-ran every year with the same processes.

    This is a table of the number of FAA registrations, by year, for specific homebuilt types. To be included on the list, the FAA records must show the airplane is licensed as Experimental Amateur-Build (EAB). Note this does not include foreign-registration aircraft, nor does it include planes that have been deregistered. It also doesn't include SLSA or ELSA versions of planes such as the RV-12 or RANS series.

    Note that there are about 6,000 obvious homebuilts in the FAA registry that have incomplete data entry, and are NOT listed as EAB.

    Type
    2009
    2010
    2011
    2012
    2013
    2014
    2015
    2016
    2017
    Air Command
    56
    56
    56
    54
    36
    35
    31
    31
    25
    Aventura
    78
    81
    79
    77
    71
    68
    63
    65
    57
    Avid
    477
    477
    474
    453
    359
    359
    343
    352
    342
    Baby/Junior Ace
    278
    281
    279
    275
    230
    228
    228
    230
    225
    Bede BD-4
    155
    153
    151
    134
    98
    91
    93
    92
    90
    Bede BD-5
    77
    77
    78
    70
    49
    43
    40
    41
    38
    Benson Gyro
    720
    717
    689
    518
    271
    218
    200
    198
    158
    Bowers Fly Baby
    269
    272
    270
    244
    183
    168
    167
    167
    160
    Challenger
    628
    659
    670
    657
    584
    594
    586
    593
    578
    Christen Eagle
    245
    240
    238
    238
    214
    207
    206
    205
    204
    Glasair
    647
    651
    650
    651
    601
    606
    596
    603
    599
    GlaStar/Sportsman
    333
    346
    355
    358
    374
    386
    396
    407
    424
    Harmon Rocket
    78
    79
    83
    84
    88
    85
    87
    85
    85
    Hatz
    104
    106
    106
    109
    105
    107
    110
    111
    110
    Kitfox
    994
    1009
    1024
    1027
    905
    918
    936
    950
    946
    Kolb (EAB)
    298
    304
    301
    296
    248
    241
    236
    235
    227
    Lancair (All Models)
    785
    814
    830
    850
    835
    847
    855
    875
    866
    Lancair IV
    236
    245
    245
    246
    246
    244
    259
    260
    249
    Midget Mustang
    295
    301
    294
    282
    241
    240
    236
    238
    233
    Murphy
    183
    186
    187
    182
    173
    171
    171
    176
    174
    Pietenpol
    358
    362
    363
    351
    307
    313
    311
    321
    319
    Pitts (EAB)
    813
    806
    800
    743
    639
    613
    617
    625
    608
    Pulsar/KIS
    153
    155
    153
    150
    130
    126
    124
    125
    122
    Quickie/Q2/Q200
    305
    303
    297
    277
    168
    148
    140
    143
    130
    Quicksilver EX-AB
    345
    348
    335
    296
    170
    163
    156
    162
    154
    RAF-2000 Gyro
    123
    123
    126
    124
    113
    114
    110
    111
    90
    Rand KR-2
    349
    350
    346
    314
    194
    175
    167
    167
    154
    RANS
    625
    656
    682
    684
    627
    638
    659
    677
    673
    Rotorway
    489
    502
    500
    495
    404
    392
    374
    380
    350
    Rutan Long-EZ
    492
    495
    491
    482
    428
    418
    416
    417
    406
    Rutan Varieze
    476
    473
    467
    423
    323
    297
    286
    286
    272
    SeaRey
    213
    219
    229
    237
    231
    242
    242
    249
    255
    Sonerai
    309
    309
    307
    287
    215
    199
    194
    194
    184
    Sonex
    232
    265
    310
    346
    383
    420
    451
    484
    497
    Steen Skybolt
    305
    301
    292
    284
    250
    246
    247
    248
    235
    Stolp
    505
    509
    495
    458
    404
    396
    399
    402
    385
    Stolp Starduster
    441
    446
    435
    404
    357
    349
    351
    352
    337
    Thorp T-18
    313
    311
    305
    290
    261
    259
    259
    262
    257
    Vans RV-3
    183
    183
    179
    172
    155
    154
    158
    160
    152
    Vans RV-4
    965
    976
    982
    987
    952
    956
    955
    965
    958
    Vans RV-6
    1739
    1767
    1781
    1786
    1763
    1783
    1775
    1795
    1796
    Vans RV-7
    700
    788
    874
    946
    1000
    1066
    1118
    1170
    1220
    Vans RV-8
    840
    913
    959
    1012
    1038
    1082
    1123
    1161
    1198
    Vans RV-9
    371
    419
    452
    484
    522
    552
    588
    611
    630
    Vans RV-10
    177
    221
    253
    281
    304
    340
    366
    394
    419
    Vans RV-12 (EAB)
    0
    8
    19
    28
    36
    49
    53
    63
    68
    Velocity
    234
    236
    237
    245
    232
    237
    235
    240
    236
    Volksplane
    222
    222
    220
    176
    104
    95
    85
    86
    76
    Zenair EX-AB
    649
    726
    789
    841
    862
    920
    965
    1013
    1028

    Ron Wanttaja

  7. #7
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    BTW, the list above accounts for about 2/3rds of the total homebuilt registrations.

    Ron Wanttaja

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by rwanttaja View Post
    BTW, the list above accounts for about 2/3rds of the total homebuilt registrations.
    You left out COZY's of all flavors. There's way more of those than many of those you did list...

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marc Zeitlin View Post
    You left out COZY's of all flavors. There's way more of those than many of those you did list...
    159 in 2009, 163 in the Dec 29 2017 registry.

    I have filters for ~75 homebuilt types. Three things tend to lead to building a filter...I suspect that a particular type has a lot of examples, I get curious about how common a given type is, or I have a friend with one.

    The process that generates the table above is an involved one. It uses my existing filters, but takes 5-10 minutes per year to extract the data for the ~50 or so types on the list. And that's almost all just pure processing time...it's only a couple of mouse clicks. And it gets longer the more types I'm including. Might be ways to speed it up, but I'm self-taught on Access and figure I'm lucky just to get consistent results.

    I've generated an abbreviated PDF version of the FAA's registry of EAB aircraft. The list is sorted by aircraft model, and is about 6 meg in size.

    Ron Wanttaja

  10. #10
    Thanks Ron,

    I used the link for the larger FAA list to look up Fokkers and saw there was a few 20 mins away that built a D VIII with an R670. Going to write him and see if I can visit.

    Jim

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