Author: Jeff Brewer

Jeff is an entrepreneur, pilot and aviation writer. He's the Founder of wikiWings. He’s enjoyed flying for over 20 years and has more than 1,700 hours of flight time in piston engine aircraft; including 500 hours in the Turbo Cirrus SR22TN-G3 Perspective, Cessna 152, 172, 182; Piper Warrior, Archer, Arrow and Aztec. He has been a member of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association since 1992 and a member in several aviation type clubs. The author’s current home base is Houston, Texas.

We attended Angel Flight South Central silent auction 2019

On Thursday, April 25^th, Tidal Aviation of Houston Texas sponsored an event for the benefit of Angel Flight South Central at the Lone Star Flight Museum. We had a great time of aviator fellowship in a historical setting with live music and fantastic food from Churrascos catering. Reid Nelson, Founder of Tidal Aviation and his team along with Larry Forney, Vice Chairman Board of Directors Angel Flight South Central and his team were excellent hosts.

Two cancer survivors presented moving testimonies on how Angel Flight blessed them through their difficult periods of cancer treatments. During the evening, a silent auction was held on many items. All for a very good cause.

Please make a donation to Angel Flight. Your support would be greatly appreciated and will go a long way with helping individuals in need.

Lone Star Flight Museum, Ellington Airport KEFD, Tidal Aviation 2019 Angel Flight Benefit, photo credit wikiWings

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How many aviation pilots are there?

The 2018 GAMA report of FAA statistics indicates there are a total of 633,316 certificated pilots. Here’s a General Aviation factoid summary.

2018 Pilot Statistics

Description	2018
Student	167,804
Recreational	147
Sport	6,246
Private	175,771
Commercial	115,776
Airline Transport	167,572
Total	633,316

In 2018, the number of women pilots was 46,485 or about 7.34% of the total. Up from prior years but still too low. The FAA began reporting Remote Pilot statistics in 2016. Last year, the total registered pilots for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles was 106,321.

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What does SR stand for on Cirrus Aircraft?

What’s the lexicon for “SR” in the Cirrus Aircraft model name? The SR was chosen as an acronym for Single-engine Reciprocating piston airplane. In 1999, the first Cirrus certified airplane was the SR20 and the number 20 stands for the original 200 horse power Teledyne Continental Motor engine.

In 2001, the second certified Cirrus airplane was introduced as the SR22 and received a “22” designation because it was just the next model up in engine performance and capability.

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Connecting Aviators® and related marks and logos are property of wikiWings®

Soar we now . . . 2019

Clouds rising. Tribute to Soar we now, Charles Wesley, 1739 — Clouds rising. Tribute to “Soar we now . . . . ” Charles Wesley, 1739

It’s Good Friday. I hope you can take some time off, rest this weekend, and indeed say “Christ the Lord is Risen,” As Charles Wesley wrote, circa 1739 –

Soar we now where Christ has led;
Following our exalted Head;
Made like him, like him we rise;
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!

Your Glory hidden in creation is now revealed in Christ.

1 Cor. 15:1-8; & 12-28; 1 Tim 1:17

General Aviation Factoids 2019

The 2018 GAMA Annual Report carried many interesting facts. Here are four that I’d like to share with you about General Aviation:

General Aviation

Flies to more than 5,000 U.S. public airports, but the scheduled airline carriers serve less than 400 of these locations.
Flies about 25 million flight hours, of which two-thirds are for business purposes in the United States.
Is the primary training ground for commercial airline pilots.
Supports $219 billion in total economic output and 1.1 million jobs in the United States.

General Aviation is defined as all aviation other than military and scheduled commercial airlines.

Reference: General Aviation Manufacturers Association Annual Report

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Connecting Aviators® and related marks and logos are property of wikiWings®

Here is a summary of single-engine piston shipments 2017-2018

These statistics are pulled from the 2018 GAMA annual report. Total single-engine piston shipments, including taildraggers and Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), increased from 936 to 954 or about 1.9%.

We’ve extracted the traditional “four-adult” single-engine piston shipments from the report to look at the changes. This group faired a little better, which saw deliveries increase from 763 to 781 or about 2.4% over the prior year. You can see the results by manufacturer in the table below.

Single-Engine Piston Shipments

Description	2017	2018	% Change
Cirrus SR22T, SR22, SR20	355	380	7%
Piper Archer & Arrrow	81	114	41%
Piper Malibu Mirage	9	20	122%
Cessna Skyhawk & Skylane	175	160	-9%
Cessna Turbo Stationair	40	32	-20%
Cessna TTx	23	1	-96%
Diamond DA40	60	45	-25%
Beachcraft A/G36	13	15	15%
Mooney Ovation & Acclaim	7	14	100%
Sub Total	763	781	2.4%
Taildraggers	48	38	-20.8%
LSA	90	103	14.4%
Other	35	32	-8.6%
Total Single-Engine Piston	936	954	1.9%

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Connecting Aviators® and related marks and logos are property of wikiWings®

Cirrus has the Best Selling Turbocharged Airplane

In 2019, Cirrus will surpass two-thousand (2,000) turbocharged airplane deliveries. Pilots’ desire for turbocharged power has carried the company past another milestone – Cirrus has more turbo deliveries than all other turbo single-engine manufactured planes combined since 2007.

In 2018, Cirrus sold 180 turbo SR22T planes. Almost half of their piston engine deliveries are turbo. In just twelve years, customers have purchased more than 1,964 turbocharged planes from Cirrus. It’s the best selling turbo piston airplane.

Continuous improvements to the plane’s design have won customers over. Along with Cirrus, there are now only three other companies manufacturing traditional “four-adult” piston turbo single-engine planes. Currently, the Cirrus SR22T Turbo outsells the Piper Malibu Mirage 9:1 and the Cessna Turbo Stationair 6:1.

The Cirrus “SR-series of high-performance piston airplanes are the best-selling aircraft in the world for [16] consecutive years – with over 7,260 aircraft operating in over 60 countries.”

Congratulations to the entire Cirrus Aircraft team.

Reference: GAMA.aero Annual Reports for piston-single engine shipments; and earlier turbo normalized (TAT) stats from Matt Bergwall, Cirrus Aircraft.

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Connecting Aviators® and related marks and logos are property of wikiWings®

Cirrus Outsells the Competition – 2018

In 2018, Cirrus Aircraft sold 380 piston-engine planes. That’s up 7% over last year. The annual GAMA report shows Cirrus won half of the traditional “four-seat” (4-adult) airplane sales. Cirrus by design, has successfully resegmented the piston-engine market and separated their airplanes from the competition.

The Cirrus SR22 outsells Beachcraft Bonanza 21:1. The Cirrus SR series wins 3:1 over Piper Archer and Arrow sales, and 2:1 over Cessna Skyhawk and Skylane sales.

The Cirrus “SR-series of high-performance piston airplanes are the best-selling aircraft in the world for [16] consecutive years – with over 7,260 aircraft operating in over 60 countries.”

Congratulations to the entire Cirrus Aircraft team.

The Klapmeier Brothers Barnstormed the General Aviation Piston Market to Become the Dominate Leaders

Back in 1999, the General Aviation piston-engine market was ready for innovation. And, the Klapmeier brothers barnstormed the industry with it to become the dominate leaders. Cirrus by design, has segmented a high-end niche market away from its competitors. The 2018 GAMA report makes it clear to see if you categorize piston-engine shipments.

In business parlance it’s called market segmentation. All piston sales are not the same. Piper sales do not compete with Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). Cessna sales don’t compete with taildragger shipments. These are very different customer markets within piston-engine airplane sales. And, a feature doesn’t create market segmentation. Segmentation is not achieved with a claim to “the fastest piston engine plane.”

The 2018 GAMA report shows Cirrus Aircraft won half of the traditional “four-seat” airplane sales. Cirrus has successfully separated their airplanes from the competition.

2018 Piston Single-Engine Shipments

Description	2018	%
Cirrus SR22 & SR20	380	49%
Piper Archer & Arrrow	114	15%
Piper Malibu Mirage	20	3%
Cessna Skyhawk & Skylane	160	21%
Cessna Turbo Stationair	32	4%
Diamond DA40	45	6%
Beachcraft A/G36	15	2%
Mooney Ovation & Acclaim	14	2%
Sub Total	780	100%
Taildraggers	38	–
LSA	103	–
Other	33	–
Total Single-Engine Piston Shipments	954	–

Cirrus has defined new airspace for single-engine competition. Again, this year, hundreds of people are willing to stand in line for a new Cirrus piston-engine airplane and pay $1.0 million dollars each. Why? Has the pursuit of relentless innovation delivered that much product differentiation for Cirrus customers?

In many ways, the piston-engine market is still ready for innovation. Archaic components remain and need to be upgraded. The market could very well be successfully segmented again or new markets might emerge – how about Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. Who will be the next visionary to step forward?

How many airplanes does Cirrus Aircraft sell per year – 2018?

In 2018, Cirrus Aircraft delivered 443 airplanes. That’s an 18% increase over the previous year.

Cirrus Design Corp. dba Cirrus Aircraft has been manufacturing planes since 1999. As of December 31, 2018 total customer shipments stand at 7,349. Details by the numbers are in the table below:

Total Cirrus Aircraft Shipments

Year	SF50 Jet	SR22 Turbo	SR22	SR20	SRV	Total
2018	63	180	135	65	–	443
2017	22	174	135	46	–	377
2016	3	149	133	35	–	320
2015	–	142	128	31	–	301
2014	–	160	117	31	–	308
2013	–	132	112	32	–	276
2012	–	88	81	84	–	253
2011	–	102	105	48	–	255
2010	–	107	115	42	–	264
2009	–	150	88	28	–	266
2008	–	250	177	115	7	549
2007	–	300	288	112	10	710
2006	–	30	535	150	6	721
2005	–	–	475	116	9	600
2004	–	–	459	91	3	553
2003	–	–	355	112	2	469
2002	–	–	292	105	–	397
2001	–	–	124	59	–	183
2000	–	–	–	95	–	95
1999	–	–	–	9	–	9
Total	88	1,964	3,854	1,406	37	7,349