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avenues to students’ growth and gives Piper a strong funnel of enthusiastic employees. And it even strengthens our collaboration with Piper’s dealer network. I know three individuals who started as Ambassadors, became interns, worked for Piper as employees and then transitioned to sales for our dealer network. I see it as benefitting the industry. We are also discussing with maintenance training schools how to incorporate those interested in technician roles as Ambassadors.
LP: The Pilot 100 training platform is a home run. Sales are off the charts. How did the Pilot 100 come about, and what are you seeing for the future in training? Has it helped revenue num- bers and earnings? And finally, how does the Seminole, a fantastic twin trainer, fall into your business plan?
RG: There’s a lot in that question. The Pilot came about as an oppor- tunity to build a real-world training aircraft that can handle the rigors of 1,000 training hours per year at a lower
Pilot 100i
Ron Gunnarson,
Piper VP of Sales, Marketing & Customer Support
price point. Most OEMs have tried to answer the question, “Where can we shed some cost to fit a particular price point and meet specific mission requirements while maintaining the brand?” The Pilot 100 answered that question for us. Quality training air- craft, used or new, are getting harder and harder to find. Hence, Piper had
the opportunity to take the PA-28, arguably the best training platform in the industry, and take some things out while adding new technologies, lowering the price point and improv- ing access to a proven airframe. With quality used aircraft becoming un- available and light sport aircraft un- able to handle the rigors of flight train- ing, Piper launched the Pilot 100 to huge success. We have a backlog that stretches into 2026, and it’s a perfect fit for our lineup, including the 100i, the Archer TX, DX and Seminole.
When it comes to the Seminole, demand also goes out into 2026. Viable multi-engine training aircraft, like the single-engine trainers, are getting very hard to source. Piper is ramping up production to meet de- mand for it. Some flight schools are experimenting with alternatives, but they’re finding it difficult to compete with a platform like the Seminole that has proven to handle the rigors of training 800 to 1,000 hours per year over decades. The flying character- istics of the Seminole, along with its counter-rotating props, wide cabin, and G1000 NXi avionics, make it highly competitive. Flight schools look for availability and maintainability, which affect direct operating costs. Along with the Seminole’s class-lead- ing f lying characteristics, it answers all the questions for a flight school.
The training segment is strong, sales are improving, and production is increasing to meet demand. And we see the market improvement as sustainable. Training aircraft retire- ments are growing, and the airlines are doing their best to push people to personal aviation, which means more training aircraft are needed. We see a solid, sustainable market for training aircraft. Piper’s robust support struc- ture and parts distribution network also give our entire aircraft lineup a substantial competitive advantage. In context to the Seminole, it’s almost unfair for our competition.
LP: That’s all great news, Ron. Thanks for spending the time with me.
10 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2023
Piper worldwide support network