August brought good news to the general aviation industry as two major trade groups reported their respective segment’s sales number for the first half of 2023. First out with avionics-industry stats was the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA), which celebrated the highest quarterly sales volume in the history of its Avionics Market Report. According to AEA, total avionics sales for the first half of 2023 reached over $1.6 billion, an increase of 19.2 percent over 2022’s first half. Remarkably, 59.5 percent of avionics sales in the second quarter of 2023 came from the so-called forward-fit market, i.e., installed in new aircraft. The remaining 40.5 percent went into retrofit sales. The numbers marked the largest quarterly forward-fit sales volume in the 10-year history of the report.
Similar good news also came out from GAMA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Its quarterly numbers for piston-powered aircraft saw an 11.4 percent increase over the same period in 2022, while turboprops were up a tantalizing 17.4 percent against last year. Bizjet sales increased 2.4 percent against 2022, with only a 1.4 percent bump when compared with the second quarter last year.
Even if the average Joe Pilot can’t afford a new airplane or helicopter, someone certainly can. And, hey, have you seen used aircraft prices lately? I was pleasantly surprised to see prices bouncing higher than I would have thought. I also noticed that the new piston singles GAMA listed as most popular were traveling machines, not trainers.
And why not? The economy’s good, inflation and unemployment are down, and the stock markets are trading back near record highs, at least as of this writing. People are buying airplanes, updating the ones they have and others are learning to fly (we hope), even if only as a rung on the ladder to an airline job. Let’s hope the good times keep rolling.
Legislative Update
Meanwhile, by the time you read this, we may have some idea of how Congress is going to resolve a number of thorny issues with pending legislation to reauthorize the FAA. The agency’s current authority is set to expire September 30, and it’s not at all clear how much effort will be put into developing a final bill by that time. There’s a non-zero chance Congress will prove unable to resolve differences between a House-passed bill and a still-under-development version in the Senate.
One of the more visible policy differences revolves around efforts to relax the 1500-hour minimum experience requirement for pilots who serve as crew in scheduled operations. This likely will be a major hurdle in the Senate, where advocates on both sides of the question have entrenched their positions.
Although a provision requiring no-cost public access at airports was dropped from the House bill, other items regarding unleaded fuel availability, expanding BasicMed privileges to aircraft weighing up to 12,500 lbs, for example, may have no similar provision in the Senate’s eventual version. Their fate can’t be known at this time.
One likely outcome is there won’t be a stand-alone FAA bill by October 1, but a temporary extension instead, allowing the House and Senate more time to work out their disagreements. Much of the eventual outcome may depend on how a looming budget battle gets resolved, one “feature” of which may be a government shutdown.
May you live in interesting times.
Ongoing System Woes
While all this is going on, the “system” is still showing signs of strain. A recent New York Times article blaming near-misses and runway incursions on the FAA’s failure to hire enough controllers or install surface-detection technologies got the agency’s attention, with a lengthy public response highlighting what the agency has been doing to reduce the highly visible events. The graph on page 20 of this issue summarizes FAA data on runway incursions, since 2013, while the one below looks only at the last few months.
And Finally…
Long-time readers may recall my public musings on updating my steam-gauge Debonair to glass. I’m pleased to report the airplane is in the avionics shop to receive that upgrade as I write. The work involves a complete replacement of the mechanical instruments with glass, and many new capabilities. Along the way, the annunciators and switches acquired over the years will be simplified. When I get it back, I’ll have to learn flying instruments all over again. I’ll keep you posted.
 — Jeb Burnside
