Homebuilt Fleet Size Summary - 2022

[rwanttaja]

Per my usual practice, I downloaded the FAA Aircraft Registration database on the last business day in December. Here are the fleet sizes of aircraft that are registered as Experimental Amateur-Built. Note this does not include examples that are registered as Light Sport, or have a blank in the column where the type of registration is normally listed.

For each year, the fleet size shown is on the last day OF that year.

Type	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Air Command	35	31	31	25	19	18	18	18	17
Aventura	68	63	65	57	50	49	50	48	47
Avid	359	343	352	342	296	289	280	278	271
Baby/Junior Ace	228	228	230	225	204	201	199	197	193
Bede BD-4	91	93	92	90	78	82	78	79	79
Bede BD-5	43	40	41	38	34	35	32	31	30
Benson Gyro	218	200	198	158	105	79	64	62	58
Bowers Fly Baby	168	167	167	160	140	139	135	130	132
Carbon Cub (EAB)	46	64	90	119	177	244	308	331	388
Challenger	594	586	593	578	491	480	476	461	447
Christen Eagle	207	206	205	204	194	192	192	193	191
Cozy	160	164	165	163	151	151	156	158	157
Glasair	606	596	603	599	571	571	563	558	565
GlaStar/Sportsman	386	396	407	424	410	424	438	443	450
Harmon Rocket	85	87	85	85	80	77	75	78	79
Hatz	107	110	111	110	112	111	110	113	117
Kitfox	918	936	950	946	875	871	889	887	885
Kolb (Ex-AB)	241	236	235	227	205	198	186	181	177
Lancair (All Models)	847	855	875	866	824	826	834	839	821
Lancair IV	244	259	260	249	236	240	243	244	245
Midget Mustang	240	236	238	233	207	205	204	202	199
Murphy	171	171	176	174	156	161	159	160	158
Pietenpol	313	311	321	319	296	297	289	284	278
Pitts (EX-AB)	613	617	625	608	548	543	534	522	522
Pulsar/KIS	126	124	125	122	107	108	105	102	102
Quickie/Q2/Q200	148	140	143	130	109	103	100	98	99
Quicksilver EX-AB	163	156	162	154	134	127	129	131	129
RAF-2000 Gyro	114	110	111	90	69	69	69	66	62
Rand KR-2	175	167	167	154	132	132	124	115	109
RANS	638	659	677	673	636	651	652	663	676
RANS S-12	129	128	128	121	107	106	109	104	102
RANS S-6	201	208	213	211	204	205	200	198	201
RANS S-7	189	202	206	209	202	210	208	213	217
Rotorway	392	374	380	350	296	296	287	283	274
Rutan Long-EZ	418	416	417	406	379	380	378	369	371
Rutan Varieze	297	286	286	272	243	238	231	222	219
SeaRey	242	242	249	255	241	238	235	236	235
Sonerai	199	194	194	184	156	156	158	155	145
Sonex	420	451	484	497	486	510	527	532	539
Steen Skybolt	246	247	248	235	215	215	215	211	208
Stolp	396	399	402	385	358	349	354	342	337
Stolp Starduster	349	351	352	337	310	302	308	301	294
Thorp T-18	259	259	262	257	239	238	236	238	235
Vans	5956	6110	6293	6414	6447	6634	6779	6960	7115
Vans RV-3	154	158	160	152	149	149	149	149	146
Vans RV-4	956	955	965	958	921	921	921	922	915
Vans RV-6	1783	1775	1795	1796	1731	1742	1737	1750	1756
Vans RV-7	1066	1118	1170	1220	1244	1285	1322	1358	1400
Vans RV-8	1082	1123	1161	1198	1215	1252	1278	1304	1315
Vans RV-9	552	588	611	630	638	658	677	689	702
Vans RV-10	340	366	394	419	434	459	492	530	570
Vans RV-12 (EX-AB)	49	53	63	68	74	75	74	81	82
Vans RV-14	0	0	14	38	66	98	134	182	234
Velocity	237	235	240	236	222	224	228	228	236
Volksplane	95	85	86	76	48	47	48	48	45
Zenair	920	965	1013	1028	992	1013	1028	1066	1091
Zenair CH-601	348	353	367	367	339	332	325	323	313
Zenair CH-701	334	348	351	347	318	328	333	329	339
Zenair CH-750	127	145	171	187	209	229	247	285	306
Overall	27909	28078	28830	28451	26572	26842	26941	27117	27315

Not every homebuilt type is included. I've tried to pick the most-common homebuilts, with a few of the rarer ones as well. If a type isn't listed, it's just because I didn't run the process for that particular aircraft. The above list accounts for about 2/3rds of the total homebuilts.

You can download this as a PDF at:

http://www.wanttaja.com/HB2022.pdf

In the PDF, red text indicates a decrease in the fleet size since the previous year.

Ron Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

Here's a plot showing the number of Experimental Amateur-Built aircraft on the registry each year since 2000. The "Shark Fin" effect is from the FAA's re-registration process, started in 2010.



Ron Wanttaja

[ironnerd]

Interesting, but I'm not following as well as I think I should.

Is this new registrations per year?

[rwanttaja]

Interesting, but I'm not following as well as I think I should.

Is this new registrations per year?

Total number of EAB registered in the indicated year. There are roughly about 1,000 homebuilts added to the registry each year.

Ron Wanttaja

[Joda]

Thanks for taking time to put together this data Ron. I will use this in a couple of presentations I'm doing this year. Great stuff!!

[prasmussen]

Only 132 of the Fly Baby? Surprising.

[rwanttaja]

Only 132 of the Fly Baby? Surprising.

Older design, and single-seater...not much interest as a general homebuilt. Have lost more than half the Fly Babies on the register since 2000.

Pietenpols are hanging on better, with a drop from ~400 to 278 in twenty years. Probably a reflection on being a two-seat design, and more known for alternate engines.

What REALLY got nailed was the Benson Gyrocopter. 1,053 on the registry in 1998, only 58 now. Lost about 500 just in the first deregistration cycle, from 2010 to 2013. Not sure how accurate that original count was, as far as whether the aircraft actually existed or no. I've always suspected that the first step in the instruction was to request an N-Number from the FAA....

Ron Wanttaja