Aircraft
Piper Counting Its Blessings from Pilot Demand
With demand for pilots on the upswing, Piper is sitting pretty as the top trainer producer
Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott is impressed with the potential for additive manufactured parts, such as this duct from an M600 that he said costs 6 percent as much to manufacture as a traditionally made part. (Photo: Mark Phelps AIN)
Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott is impressed with the potential for additive manufactured parts, such as this duct from an M600 that he said costs 6 percent as much to manufacture as a traditionally made part. (Photo: Mark Phelps AIN)

Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott is pleased to be the apparent trainer-maker of choice at a time when demand for pilots is skyrocketing. “The latest Boeing forecast calls for a need for 800,000 pilots in the next 20 years,” he told journalists at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Monday. "We’ve signed contracts for more than 100 of our Pilot 100 series [trainers] in the past two months.”