I was reading some private aviation articles a few days ago. Private aviation is a term used for describing airplanes and their use for civil and non-commercial purposes. Most common in this category are propeller-based, piston-powered, single-engine airplanes. There are many manufacturers of such kinds of planes, here are some of them:
- Beechcraft
- Cessna
- Cirrus
- Diamond
- Mooney
- Piper
I wanted to know which are the most common ones. Taking a look at numerous sites where you can buy different aircrafts, the distribution is roughly like this:
| manufacturer | percentage |
|---|---|
| Cessna | 44 |
| Piper | 26 |
| Beechcraft | 11 |
| Cirrus | 4 |
| Diamond | 3 |
Note this is only for the above 5 most common – the above adds up to 100%, but the above aircraft don’t make the 100% of all the aircraft models. The rest, however, don’t add up to many percents, at least according to the brief study I made. Also note this is not a scientific thing for other reasons – just a compilation from a few sites and thus can change a lot depending on several factors – current economics, region of the world, etc.
Even though, it gives you a good picture. The above says that you can expect, say, 2/3 common private aviation planes to be either Cessna or Piper. This may mean a few things for potential buyers or renters:
- You are more likely to run into these kinds of planes (= less time to learn)
- Maintenance is easier for several reasons:
- People, like other pilots, are familiar (= can offer better advice),
- Parts are easier to find (= better quality and less expensive),
- Mechanics are more familiar (= can fix it faster, better, for less money)
- You are more likely to find an instructor familiar with these (= they will be able to teach you better).
- Books are more likely to consider one of the above when discussing (= explanations and pictures are more specific)
The whole reason I did the above research is to see whether it’s worth risking and tying yourself to a specific make/model. I think I am pretty sure I’m going to stick with Cessna after the above – it’s a very good starting point and that might prove invaluable. If for no other reason, it might mean a decisive thing when walking the thin line between flying or not. Flying requires a serious dedication both in time and money, so anything that helps is welcome from my standpoint of view.