AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008 - 128

American GA aircraft manufacturers built a larger number, and a greater percentage, of piston twins in the late 1950s than now. The split between singles and twins was about 7,000 to 900 in 1958 (12.8 percent twins) compared to about 2,200 to 80 in 2006 (3.6 percent twins). Other monumental changes that would eventually reshape the GA marketplace were just beginning to take form a half-century ago. The notion of private, turbine-powered aircraft probably seemed like an oxymoron then—but such planes provide the lion’s share of revenue from GA aircraft sales today. Grumman (now Gulfstream) was making its initial foray into corporate aviation in the late 1950s with its twin-engine, turboprop G-1. The 12-seat, RollsRoyce-powered airplane was a game changer, though, and it propelled the company now based in Savannah, Georgia, on to a long series of ever-more-capable and luxurious jets. In 2006, Gulfstream delivered 113 business jets including 71 top-of-the-line G500/550s. Cessna didn’t make any GA turboprops or jets in the 1950s, but it delivered 307 kerosene burners in 2006 ranging from the C-208 Caravan to the Citation X. (Cessna also delivered 865 piston singles that year.) NASDAQ GRMN ©2007 Garmin Ltd or its subsidiaries Now, get weather briefings and file flight plans – all on your mobile phone. With Pilot My-Cast® by Garmin, your mobile phone becomes a virtual flight service station – bringing instant “wireless weather intelligence”™ right to the palm of your hand. Check out current and forecast National Weather Service data, including animated Nexrad Doppler® color radar, METARs, TAFs, TFRs, winds aloft, lightning, flight conditions, satellite cloud imagery, and more. Plus, you can even use DUAT(S) to file flight plans. Pilot My-Cast® remembers your flight plan entries – so next time, you only need to re-enter the data that has changed for the new flight plan. Easy, fast, Smart? Absolutely. To see about adding Pilot My-Cast® to your existing wireless service, just call 1-866-669-2278. Or go to www.digitalcyclone.com/pilot FILE PLAN PILOT REPORT Old-timers then lamented that VORs, or “omnis,” reduced cross-country navigation to child’s play. Single-engine turboprops simply didn’t exist in the GA fleet in the late 1950s but they’ve become an increasingly important part of the GA industry today. Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna, Piper, Pilatus, Quest and Socata are pushing major advances in size, speed, and efﬁciency. Experimental, amateur-built aircraft made from plans or kits were a fringe market in the 1950s. But such airplanes now number more than 23,000 on the U.S. aircraft registry and comprise roughly 10 percent of the single-engine, piston GA ﬂeet. AOPA PILOT • 128 • MARCH 2008 Digital Cyclone

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008