China, China, China.

There was one word I didn’t use in my blog last week. That word was “China.” One commenter brought this to my attention in no uncertain terms. “Well, interesting story Robert, but like so many have said - CHINA, CHINA, CHINA !!”

In my piece that wasn’t about the SkyCatcher being built in China (click here if you haven’t seen it) I was simply explaining why airplanes cost as much as they do and in the process used the SkyCatcher, Cessna’s two-seat LSA trainer, as the example to make my point.

Yet despite the fact that I didn't mention the China connection, a large percentage of the replies to my piece were all about that fact. People clearly want to discuss it.

Several respondents were upset that SkyCatcher production was being outsourced at a time when American jobs are being lost en masse. One said, “My one and only complaint is that no one . . . talks about where the 162 is built. The last time I heard it was being built in China at the same time that Cessna was having massive layoffs in Wichita. I don't care about all the usual excuses, that just isn't right.” For some readers, the question was one of national loyalty and pride. “I would never buy this airplane,” one reader said. “Made in China - forget it. Cessna lays off so many Americans and then moves construction of the 162 to China - COME ON! Forget it, you could sell it for $50,000 and I'd still say NO THANKS!”

Several commenters saw a more complex picture. “The whole China/US made argument boils down to "how much extra are you willing to pay to support someone whose product or efforts cost more?" It plays out everywhere, such as in anti-WalMart campaigns. Here at our home airport, the FBO, run by a neighbor, sells gas that generally runs $.45/gallon higher than a vendor only a few miles away. Should I cough up the extra $25 or more per fill-up to support him? Or should I go with free enterprise, which has provided us with our fantastic lifestyle? What would you do?”

A friend and a longtime aviation manufacturing professional posted that, “After spending that last 16-plus years witnessing and being part of a certification process the cost of building a new aircraft is beyond comprehension. I understand why Cessna is building in China but it does not make it any less frustrating to see a once all American industry being exported.”

Yet another reader pointed out that Cessna doesn’t need to be in the training market at all. “Cessna could make lots more money just selling their highly successful jets but instead put lots of time and money into re-starting the flight training market. They want more pilots and they want them starting in Cessnas. These guys are very savvy and know what they are doing; the Skycatcher will succeed marvelously.”

Finally, one commenter made a point that was dear to all of hearts whether we support Cessna’s decision to build the airplane in China or not: He said, “Personally, I don’t care where the 162 is built. My Ford Focus is built in Mexico, my Ford Crown Victoria in Canada. So that’s the fact of today’s international world. What really worries me is that young kids are not getting into aviation at all."

I strongly agree with his last point. Regardless of where it’s built, the SkyCatcher is a step in the direction of reversing that alarming trend.

Comments

[cartman]

they took our jobs, terk er jerbs

[EAAer John]

Build your own! When you can build a Sonex for less than $25,000 and fly 140 mph and do it in less than a year, Who needs Chinese aircraft? Flying schools! It is not legal to rent home-built aircraft in the U.S..

[Tom G]

There was a time, not so long ago, when all Japan produced was cheap junk. They had low cost production just like China. As the money poured into Japan, the country developed and wages increased. Japan transitioned to an economy that produced high quality high value goods. Seekers of cheap labor moved elsewhere. The same is already occurring in China. If you want to reduce the wage gap, encourage economic development in these third world countries so wages there will rise. Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the list of former cheap labor centers is growing. A reduced wage gap is the only long term means of making American labor competitive.

[Dave B]

I have one of the unemployed from Wichita. He was here in the Chicago area for three days in the holiday season and has found two jobs. My advice to displaced Cessna workers: Move. You have priced yourselves out of the labor market because you are too expensive for what you can produce by more than the cost of transporting new planes from overseas. Geniuses. If too few youngsters are coming into aviation, it is because the loaded cost of training is over $100 a flight hour. Get that down and you will get more entrants. Going with cheaper labor is a step in the right direction in that regard.

[Mike Holl]

On 11/26, Caleb John wrote that yes, in 1900 unions were necessary because of lack of federal laws that we now have;
We have those laws now BECAUSE of unions! Are we to honestly
believe that these federal reg's came about because of pressure
from the corporations?
Some basic history lessons are in order.

Mike Holl

[Gene Brett]

I'm Gene Brett...I'v been around for 73 years. My brother and I started our business over 40 years ago with $500.00...I have,for all those years, worked 12and 14 hour days six or seven days most weeks. After 30 years I finally could afford to pursue my drean to fly and own an airplane. I own a Cessna P210 and a Lancair 4P that I built. Four years ago I took delivery of a Grand Caravan that I have since sold. Jack Pelton penned the contract at Oshkosh...I visited Wichita during construction and discovered why Cessena can not build in this country and compete on the world market. The union employees are over paid and under worked. One can discuss, debate, expound, rationalize and lament adinfinitum yet the fact remains...unions are driving businesses out of business and jobs overseas.

[David Yates]

Ok one thing only lightley mentioned in these comments is the fact that "Patriotism" and a global market CANNOT coexist! and I pearsonaly see this as the most damming of our sins as a country,if we as a country produce nothing to be proud of then we have lost period.

[Antoine]

The 777 is made from parts manufactured all over the world.
Final assembly is what counts so bring the 162 back to where it belongs..Wichita.
Same thing for the Lear 85.

[K Krumm]

The Flycatcher at over $100,000 won't jumpstart aviation. When are you guys on Park Avenue gonna figure out that aviation and airplanes simply cost TO MUCH! I used to rent a 172 for $50 an hour wet, now it's over $130 an hour dry!!! Forget it! Aviation as we know it is dead, and high prices on aircraft and avgas have caused it. It may linger on a few years with Light Sport Aircraft but eventually those guys will get tired of tooling around the pea patch and when they see what a real traveling airplane costs, they'll be gone too. I guess the Chinese will have to support Cessna from now on, at least until the workers over there find out how they are being used and abused by their government and American companies. It's a sure bet the average Chinese worker won't be buying a Flycatcher.

[Jose Cuervo]

The problem is not Skycatchers built in China but ALL of our domestic manufacturing. Our state of business is the result of years of price fixing of the labor market: Union contracts beget higher wages in the short term (as does the government's arbitrarily set "minimum wage")but inflation is ratcheted up due to those costs. Soon the price fixing of labor must happen again to adjust against inflation and so the vicious circle goes on. Unfortunately, this is localized within this country and soon we have out priced our labor vs the foreign labor market. Add in other price fixes to the cost of doing business - benefits, regulations, taxes, etc. and we are killing ourselves by allowing too much government. We need deregulation and unhindered market forces to set wages and prices. If we don't we'll never get domestic manufacturing to return to the US much less keep the remaining manufacturing we have.

[John Boswell]

What's different about exporting airplanes production to China and Shoes or Shirts or Radios or everything else we buy....If we're going to penalize the aircraft industry for not being made in America...I want to see all products cut out of China's production reach....Why single out Cessna....this seems unbelievable bias and unfair....Why can't I buy a cheap plane....Why can I buy cheap clothes, shoes, radios, etc. made in China...Just put a big import duty on everything imported from China...forget about taxing our people....that's wrong...especially picking on Cessna....They are having hard enough time of it as it is.

[r. Sheridan]

Why is it that Diamond, with heavily unionized employees in Canada and Germany AND a huge currency cost, are doing well, all you wingnut union-haters?

[Ken Williams]

Attn Cessna: As long as there is an alternative, I will not buy an airplane made in China.

[Woody]

I can't wait until the Chi-coms make a knock-off copy of the Skycatcher, like they do a LOT of other products and software, then maybe I could afford one.