Digging in Kansas

Attended Flying's "Parade of Planes" in Kansas a week ago (at New Century Airport in Olathe). Participating displays included Hawker-Beechcraft (2 King-Airs, a Premier, and a Bonanza), Cessna (a Cessna 400), Cirrus (the "jet" mockup and an SR22 GTS), CubCrafters with their new SuperSport Cub, Aviat with a Husky, Liberty, Gobosh, Pilatus with a PC12 , Diamond (DA42, DA40, DA20), and Piper (Matrix).

Overall, the weather did not cooperate (very windy and stormy, and the last day was actually cold with the wind). Paired with a somewhat removed location - a bit of a drive from Kansas City, and a poor economy, and the result was very light attendance. However, there were a few flashes of quality and optimism in the group.

Cirrus - hoping to sell another 40 aircraft in May, a repeat of the 40 aircraft sold in April? Somehow, the folks up in Duluth are figuring out how to sell airplanes in a market where there appears to be very little activity.

Gobosh - at a show with little "Sport" presence, Gobosh seemed busy throughout the event, and ran demos constantly. It seemed there was almost always someone at the Gobosh booth chatting it up with the Gobosh reps.

A couple of the resale, or late-model "used" aircraft sales folks reported nice activity starting around March. Although it's down for the year, they are still selling aircraft, and perhaps today's aircraft buyer is finding pretty attractive offerings with late-model used aircraft, especially for sellers who have been negatively impacted by our slumping economy and need to "blow the airplane out the door".