The odd thing here at oshkosh is that no matter how many times you think you've made the round of every single pavilion, booth, alley and stand, someone always comes up to you exclaiming, Did you see the Testosteropter behind Building C? and you have to set out again. This year saw the continuation of a trend that has been boiling up like some particularly energetic cumulonimbus over the last few years: the trend toward kit airplanes of extremely high performance and correspondingly high price. Short of a short-haul airliner kit—which, to be sure, would not be permitted to carry passengers for hire—I don't see how this trend can be carried much beyond the Epic, a six-seat, 350-knot, carbon-composite machine propelled by one of 78 l,200-hp P&W turbo-props rescued from defunct Beech Starships. The kit—quick-build, I trust—sells for 1.2 million dollars; get in line now.
展开▼
