Sandel screens are much larger now, by the way, than those seen in 2000 for the company's electronic HSI and terrain-warning products. But the screens remained smallish at first in order to be retrofitted into the available space on the older GA aircraft. Retrofitting was expensive, but the gains in safety overrode cost concerns. As Piper officials predicted then, the Cherokee production line of aircraft ended after a successful 42-year run. After forming a committee in 2000 to evaluate all future technologies, Piper revamped its line of single-engine aircraft in 2003.
Cabins are now six inches larger both vertically and horizontally.
But the important change came in the way the aircraft are manufactured. They had too many parts, and that made them labor-intensive and thus expensive not only to manufacture, but to maintain. Use of new manufacturing techniques has dramatically reduced the parts count. Cessna decided not to change the way its popular aircraft look, but announced in 2004 an enormous change in avionics for single-engine aircraft. The screens simply plug into the panel there is no wiring.