European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To a com sky now it one of the putt putt experiencing a drop in to bumpy skies for aviation putt putts by Kendall  new York times n sunny weekends Small planes still fill the skies Over Ili Ghl training schools Landing Fields and local airports in the United states. But these Piston engine Crall called putt putts or Little Guys by commercial pilots Are facing a precipitous decline. Their makers companies like Beech Cessna and Piper have themselves been sputtering for the past live years. And now caught up in the liability insurance crisis some manufacturers Are suspending production on Many Small plane models and emphasizing instead the More expensive and More profitable corporate turboprops and jets. A number of problems have been plaguing the so called general aviation Industry which manufactures aircraft for use outside the military and the airline business. Tha troubles have ranged from High fuel prices to recessions in industries such As ii and agriculture Hal were once prime customers. An onslaught of crushing product liability awards Many of them involving Piston engine planes is the Chiel obstacle to profitability company executives say. The Cost of product liability has had a devastating effect said Drew Steketee a spokesman Lor the general aviation manufacturers association in Washington. Some product lines Are being sued out of business jury awards against manufacturers for design flaws or defects Hal resulted in accidents have skyrocketed in the last decade in 1977, the Industry paid a total of $24 million in liability claims. By 1985, the payout was $209.6 million. Erma Bombeck meanwhile the companies insurance premiums have Shol up rising sevenfold 1o $50 million a year Al Cessna for example As production has dropped. The manufacturers association says that today the average insurance Cost per air plane is More than $70,000. Up 1mm $2,111 in 1972. As a result companies say. They can no longer build a Small air plane Hal can compete with the surfeit of used planes in the Market. A Standard two seat single engine Piston plane now retails at a base Price of about $31,000. An equivalent used plane costs about half that amount. Piston engine planes once accounted for Iha largest chunk of business Al the big Genera aviation companies. In 1978, he Industry shipped More than 17,000 Small Piston engine planes. But last year that number was about 1,560. And earlier this year Cessna the largest general aviation aircraft producer and Piper both announced production suspensions of most of their Piston engine models. Both companies also slashed their work forces. Relief from liability Coill said Russell w. Meyer jr., Cessna s chairman and chief executive officer will be the single most important Factor in whether we Ever resume  Cessna and others in the Industry Are looking for that Relief in Congress where they Are lobbying Lor Laws to limit their liability costs. Meanwhile production this year of Oil general aviation aircraft including the planes aimed Al business customers is expected to slip below 2,000 units the worst level since before world War ii and far below the 1 b,000-a-year level achieved in the heyday of the late 1970s. The companies Are nonetheless pinning their Hopes on turboprops and jets for corporate use which carry higher Price tags and prolix margins. Shipments of these planes have slipped too but not As badly. Last year about 466 corporate jets and turboprops were shipped by general aviation companies compared with 780 in 1978. And Over the years manufacturers have been steadily developing new technologies for these models to must stimulate the Nykol by offering new products that have no comparable Competition in the used  said James s. Walsh president and Chic executive of Beech aircraft at a recent business aviation convention in Anaheim. Calif. But some in the Industry see Lical Hal the business plane Market will pick up soon Are predicting a shakeout in general aviation. In a recent investment letter for example. Drexel Burnham Lambert told its clients Piper will either break even or be discontinued this fiscal year. The latter is More Likely in our  Allol the big Lii general aviation companies have been hurling. The Kansas based Cessna bought by general dynamics in 1985. Had aircraft sales last year of $443 million a 36 percent drop from 1984. Sales at Beech aircraft also in Wichita and a subsidiary of the Raythelon co., dwindled to $272.6 million last year from $619.7 million in its Peak year of 1981. Seles Are again of this year. At Piper aircraft a subsidiary of Lear Siegler a spokesman would not release aircraft sales figures but said the company had experienced a 90 percent drop in sales Over the last six years and was not profitable. However a spokesman for Lear Jack e. Cressman said that Piper was not operating under the schedule thai Drexel Burnham has suggested. Our focus is to do everything we can to make Piper  maybe you heard. I cleaned my Liosel Las weekend. I know i be done it before but never have i been so ruthless. So unfeeling. So merciless in my attack. I struck Down size 10 Skirls in their prime. Torched shoes with 5-Inch heels. Stuffed hats in a Goodwill dumpster that still fit. I was proudly surveying All the Bare hangers dangling from empty rods when my daughter said. What s in these boxes they re tilled with material i be Cut of my Coats and dresses that were too  she opened the Box with Row upon Row of two to five inches of hems rolled into a Bau. Why Are you saving hem she asked. You really Don l know do you 1 smiled. No Tell  you would never understand Tor the same reason you would never comprehend Why am saving these Cartons of discarded shoulder  try  it s Bombeck s Law. The More absurd the item the More Likely you Are to need it the Day after you throw it away. Remember All those plastic butter containers i saved i must have had five or 10 years of them tucked away. Then one Day your father threw them out. The very next Day i got a Call from a scout Leader who needed them for a seedling project was t she the weird woman who also took All of your toilet tissue lubes which is Why. I m stockpiling hem again at one time i too waa innocent like my daughter. I thought a try tissue paper thai came in boxes was stupid. Then one Day i threw away enough old tissue to gift wrap the Sears building. Within the week i was ironing pieces of tissue jammed in my shoes to line a Box. You think nothing is going to come irom All those Little extra buttons that come with blouses and Malch absolutely nothing but i defy you to throw one away through the years i have Learned that clothes hate and shoes come and go. They can be thrown away Sid nothing will happen. Bui the very moment you pitch drawer of Nylon pantyhose with holes in the tool win be the Day they turn into heirlooms and Are sough after by collectors All Over the world. Al least my closet looks great. I hardly notice the five shopping bags of o4d Christmas cards and two " garbage bags of Pine Cone. In a Natl to butt srm Tato urday novembers 19b6 the stars and stripes a Page 17