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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0776.PDF
GA firms were also hit by a sales slump. "I couldn't figure out how much Piper was losing, but it looked damn large," says Millar. Why did he buy it? His motives invite comparison with those of Victor Kiam, the man who liked the Remington shaver so much he bought its manufacturer. Millar had owned several Pipers, and admits that his "greatest dream" was to own the company. Under the terms of the deal, the sum he paid for Piper cannot be released for another ten years. Millar could see that some of Piper's woes were of its own or Lear Siegler's making: "Piper's ownership conveyed the idea that Piper would go out of business". Overpriced spares The firm was loaded with corporate charges. The price of spares, which provided a good business because of the huge fleet of active aircraft, had been "hiked" to "asinine" levels, in the belief that the market was captive. "Customers knew they were being ripped off." There was also the problem of product liability exposure. Deliveries themselves Think ta When Millar tried to lure Roy LoPresti to work for him at Piper, LoPresti refused, wanting more control over his work and a smaller organisation. So the pair set up the separate think-tank on the opposite side of Vero Beach Airport from the Piper factory. While Piper's own design teams would work on derivatives of current Piper prod ucts, LoPresti and his team of 40 would work on new products based on past designs, including those of Piper. It would also look at possibilities using a clean-sheet approach. Rejuvenation One year after the founding of LoPresti Piper Aircraft Engineering, LoPresti is rejuvenating two elderly designs. With one in the air, he is already confident that the idea works. If he is right, Piper may produce LoPresti's modern version of the Globe Swift, a two-seater certificated in the USA in 1946 but not built since 1950. Another option is a new Comanche. LoPresti believes that he can take a design of 1940s vintage which has the economic attraction of certification, improve its aerodynamic efficiency without major structural change using the latest computer techniques, and produce an aircraft which can compete successfully in today's market. Development cost and time would be halved, and risk would be virtu ally eliminated, he says. Roy LoPresti is bursting with ideas— curved instrument panels that eliminate were seen as liabilities, Millar asserts. Then there was the intractable legacy of the boom years. In the 1970s manufacturers had flooded the market with aircraft that would not need replacing for decades. (Piper delivered 128,000 in 51 years, and some 95,000 still fly, Millar says.) That made a much broader market essential if deliveries were to do more than replace worn-out aircraft. External factors had also contributed to Piper's decline. An important one was the cost of product-liability insurance, which was soaring as US courts awarded ever increasing compensation. Hardest hit were the makers of relatively cheap aircraft, and firms which had large fleets in use. Though morale at Piper was low, not all was gloom. The Malibu was profitable. Millar calls the upmarket pressurised piston- single the only "all-new" single in the last 25 years. The spares business also seemed attractive. Soon after he bought the company, Millar asked a number of top managers to leave, and stepped into the top job as chief executive officer. Aiming to fulfil parallax, space-saving side-arm controllers, throttle sticks bristling with buttons for "hands-on-throttle-and-stick" flying, elec tronics which do pre-take-off checks, and headup displays are all on his agenda for trial, and perhaps use, on Piper aircraft. The ideas, mostly alien to general aviation although they are used on other categories of aircraft, are also being evaluated as a means of updating aircraft which are his promise to offer a full range of general- aviation aircraft, the new boss reintroduced ^several Piper models that had been with drawn. Enter the Super Cub. Thousands of Super Cubs and Cubs, used during the Second World War, were built. The Super Cub update was launched one year ago, with many improvements. It is offered for $43,000 complete, or $21,000 in kit form less engine, propeller, and paint. The Cadet was launched at the same time. A much modified Cherokee, it sells for $45,000 and is claimed to be a modern trainer that is really affordable by the flying clubs. Because of an order from the University of North Dakota and interest from other parties, Millar revived the larger Seminole piston twin. He also decided to continue making the Cheyenne turbine twin, a move which, he now admits, baffled some Piper managers. To keep the price down, Piper cut out the middle men and is selling the aero plane direct. Most recently, Millar announced a re- engined and improved Malibu, the Malibu long out of production. LoPresti has been told that, if his designs are to be produced, they must be exciting, give a high performance and be of excep tional appearance. LoPresti likes the chal lenge, hates "ho-hum" aircraft, and aims to find a Ferrari-style "pzazz" which he, too, believes is essential. The pragmatism may be out of step with the American yen for technological progress, nk cuts the cost Roy LoPresti and his electronic box that does many checks, and warns pilots of wrongly-set controls 46 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 25 March 1989
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