Cessna, Piper, and the Emergence of Sport Flying

In This Chapter

► Sport flying: safer than ever before

► Aviation’s popularity: "taking off"

► Plane makers Cessna and Piper make flying affordable and safe

► Manufacturers Beechcraft and Mooney add flash and speed

► The Oshkosh experience

Sport flying is booming. Airplane makers are speeding up their assembly lines, more people are getting their pilot certificates, and pilots are flying more hours now than they have in years. The figures make it pretty clear that the upsurge in flying activity is only going to accelerate. And for those of us who love nothing more than a busy airfield, that’s good news.

Sport flying owes its popularity to two innovators who saw flying not as a daredevil sport but as a recreational pastime: Clyde Cessna and Bill Piper. Thanks to the companies they built and their vision for sport aviation, flying continues to become safer and more affordable.