With its slab-sided fuselage and frumpy profile, the Alarus is anything but sleek. But it’s priced right for a basic trainer.

by Paul Bertorelli

What’s true in the car business is also true in the airplane business: you’ll make a lot more money selling expensive models than you will trolling the bottom of the market with economy offerings. That’s why the roads are choked with high-zoot sport UVs and why every company that tries to sell trainers struggles to make a go of it.

Two for instances come to mind: OMF Aircraft, a German company, makes a nice little two-seat trainer/sport cruiser called the Symphony and after a moderate splash in the market, the company is clawing its way back from bankruptcy. Another would-be two-seat purveyor, Liberty Aerospace hasn’t found a ready market…