By Kristy Gilligan 

The world economy has hit us all pretty hard in the last quarter of 2008. Just when we thought it was poor legislation that might kill aviation, we are all hit with financial chaos. Earlier in the year I was writing about high end buyers and their slick new machines. By the end of the year I was writing about buying second hand.

How we measure the year’s events depends on our perspective. Having been pregnant three quarters of the year, I saw aviation mostly through the eyes of the media. Through my own experiences I have seen the highs and lows of a year that sent forth a thriving light aircraft market while taking its toll on the commercial operators. The general public savoured the usual run of air shows and we all tried to duck the red tape and keep ourselves airborne on the weekends.

Mainstream media were typically hard on aviation with a whole lot of Qantas bashing and the hunt for Steve Fosset. This Qantas bashing has driven me wild. Had it not cost so much to find an LCD TV not made in China, I would have launched it out the window by now. Every five minutes there is a news story on TV telling us a sticker fell off a Qantas Boeing 747.

I’m glad they found Steve Fosset for his family’s sake, but it did highlight an imbalance in the way we use our recourses. Some people go missing and, after a week, everyone just stops looking. Steve was a high profile aviator, so he had thousands of people picking through satellite images to find him. Such effort is not and cannot be afforded to a general member of the public. Something to think about.

The higher end of the new aircraft market (and by that I mean the more expensive end, generally pressurised and playing about in the flight levels) have made a move from being boring old aircraft manufacturers to being real consumer-driven sales teams in 2008. Previously, a new aircraft was sold based on the essential equipment, safety and other important stuff like having wings. These days, less essential features such as leather interior, airbag seatbelts, colour schemes and cup holders are garbbing the punters’ attention. What’s more, we make our purchase decision by online virtual tours, build-your-own online pricing and two years on a waiting list. Earlier in the year I marvelled at the people lining up for new aircraft, a habit usually reserved for charter companies and flying schools, but this has slowed down a little since someone put a hole in the share market’s bucket. The future of new aircraft sales into the New Year appears strong regardless, as materials and Chinese manufacture become cheaper, but we will all head into 2009 with our fingers crossed and our credit cards safely hidden away.

After reviewing a dozen used aircraft this year I decided I could get over the old-fashioned caravan stripes and embrace some really reliable and affordable flying machines. I was punching way outside my weight category with the likes of the Fairchild Metroliner and Cessna Conquest, both in terms of flying ability and technical knowledge, but this category of used aircraft has to be one of the stand outs this year. In terms of second hand aircraft, the turbo prop is a good buy where a charter company or corporate group wants to move around the country without the light jet price tag. This, of course, doesn’t take into the steadily increasing ‘near new’ market which is a sensible way of buying into the high end and is discussed later this issue.

My pick of the bunch, however, would be the ultralight or LSA. They are flowing into the used aircraft market as people keep upgrading with their skill level and they are the perfect starting point for the financially modest recreational flyer.

It had been a long time between flights when I decided to take on the conversion of my Private Pilot’s License to a Recreational License. In January and February we waffled on about the contrast and similarity between the two and, as the year progressed, there was many an Ultralight or LSA to review. It seems I did my license conversion right on the cusp of an aviation revolution. Fuelled by a strong Aussie dollar, we all hit the internet and scoured fancy web pages to buy our aircraft kits, avionics and so forth. I have no doubt that the first quarter of 2008 saw us all kitted out much better than we have been in previous years. I thought it would be half a life time before I saw a glass cockpit in a GA aircraft but now they are a more common sight. At this point I should also thank Anthony Morrison at Pioneer Aviation in Latrobe Valley for renewing my faith in flying schools and, once again, reminding me that aviation is all about fun.

The Light Sport Category has been a hot topic and, as new aircraft go, they have been in all the headlines. We have introduced the likes of the Aveo Phantom, Evektor Sportstar Cessna Skycatcher, Fly Synthesis Texan, Furio, Ramphos, Storm Rally, Lightwing, the Brumby and the mighty Eaglet to name but a few. The Light Sport Aircraft is an immensely popular category of flying machine for a variety of operators. The LSA is budget conscious, great for the casual participant and suitable for the private owner as much as the commercial flying school, making it 2008’s stand out new aircraft category.

If it’s luxury you are after, the Aveo Phantom is the aviation equivalent of the European sports car. The Cessna Skycatcher is pretty, but more like your upmarket Ford Falcon – goodlooking, performs, but it’s a big brand name that everyone will own. All the LSA’s offer buyers something aviation has needed for years – choice! If you want to build it, build it, or if you’d prefer to just buy and fly then that can be arranged too. The Texan is a great example of a manufacturer doing all the hard yards, taking your cash and a few signatures and letting you get to the business of enjoying your new machine. No one aircraft stands out in the crowd, as they are all wonderful in their own right, but Tecnam’s Eaglet deserves a final mention with easy door entry, a roomy cabin and some impressive performance specs. Knowledge is power, so shop around, study up and next year you can have one of these little beauties in your hangar.

My favourite bit of gear this year was the Flight Planner 3000 from Champagne PC Services. Add this one to your Christmas stocking for less than a night at the Hilton and you’ll be gaining some flight planning peace of mind with a database of over 8,000 waypoints and 3,000 airfields. I fancied this particular product because it appealed to both my lazy side and my safety conscious side. You can have the programme automatically connect to NAIPS using your log in and download weather and NOTAM's for the flight, then do all the calculations into your plan. It can also convert a complete NAIPS weather briefing to plain English if you need to make sense of a tricky forecast. The interface isn’t flashy or confusing, just easy to read, fast and simple. Five stars from a modest GA/RA pilot like me who thinks anything that cuts down pre-flight planning is a god-send.

As the year’s end approaches we are all watching our retirement funds fade away and cutting back on our avgas usage to avoid reaching peak oil. But we haven’t stopped flying Qantas because we all know they are more likely to land on the actual runway than many worse off airlines and we don’t understand enough about carbon offsets and footprints to stop flying and stay at home. Basically this year is no better than last year and next year isn’t going to be much worse than this year. For now we can put up our Christmas trees, embrace our friends and family and remember to take them flying once in a while. Happy New Year!