
I'm not an aeroplane salesman. There are lots of people who know a lot more than I do about selling aeroplanes, but I still find myself wondering what they're doing sometimes.
Every year for the last eight years hundreds of Cirrus owners have flown to Duluth (the home of Cirrus) for a social event - known as 'Migration'. It's a great opportunity for past, present and future owners to get together and talk aeroplanes. This year, the eighth Migration, they're not going to Duluth, but to Dayton, Ohio, instead. The birthplace of aviation rather than the birthplace of their aeroplane.
So given that many Cirrus owners have a habit of buying a new (Cirrus) aircraft each time there's a significant upgrade (turbo, avionics, FIKI, etc.) how come the Platinum sponsor is - wait for it - Piper, while Cirrus itself is listed as a silver sponsor?
A smart move for Piper, given that many Cirrus owners seem to be see the PA46 as a natural step up. I were Cirrus, I'd be figuring out how to make silver look better than platinum.
Piper may have been smart with that move, but I don't understand what Piper is doing with some of the marketing for the Sport Cruiser, sorry PiperSport in the UK. They sign an exclusive agreement to sell the PiperSport worldwide, and at the same time cancel the kit version (the Sport Cruiser started life as a homebuilders' kit before becoming available as a ready-to-fly LSA). I can understand that decision, but I don't understand why they're spending money advertising the aeroplane to a group of people who are defined by the fact that they're homebuilders! But like I said, what do I know? Perhaps they'll persuade builders to buy a factory-made aircraft at two or three times the price they would have paid for the kit.