Adam Aircraft Displays A500 and A700 at NBAA
The orders keep mounting for Adam Aircraft's A500 push-pull
piston centerline twin and its $2.1 million derivative A700 Very Light
Jet (VLJ), which is slated for certification in mid-2006. Both will be on
display here at NBAA.
"There are no significant design changes on the A700
planned, just some tweaking of the interior," said Joe Walker, president of the
Englewood, Colorado-based company, who briefed Show News on the two programs
before the show.
The tweaking will include "modularizing" the lavatory area.
During the show, Adam will unveil a modular lavatory that can convert from the
seven-seat owner/operator configuration to an eight-seat, non- lavatory
arrangement. In addition, Adam will move the escape hatches on the A700 to the
lavatory area to allow for greater flexibility in configuring seats forward or
aft. For the first preproduction A700 the escape hatches are located mid-cabin.
To date Adam has received 80 firm orders for the already
certified A500, which equates to an 18-month backlog. The next available order
position is late first quarter 2007, said Walker. Adam plans to deliver 15
units this year and 50 A500s in 2006. Twin Teledyne Continental TSIO-550
engines power the A500.
For the A700 Adam has received 60 firm orders from
owner/operators and 75 deposit agreements
from Pogo, a new air limousine service that is expected to begin
operations in the U.S. Northeast during the third quarter of 2006. Former
American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall is Pogo's chairman. The new president is
Cameron Burr, son of People Express foun-der Don Burr. Also on the board is
PrivatAir vice-chairman David Hurley.
Crandall stated earlier this year in an interview before the
EBACE show in Geneva that Pogo, formerly iFly Air Taxi, will start revenue
service from some of the many underutilized airports "somewhere in southern New
England." Pogo may augment its fleet of A700s with other VLJs, including the
Eclipse 500. As of late last year, $8 million has been invested in the venture,
which will cater to business travelers who can afford an air limousine service
and want to avoid the hassle of flying commercially.
However, these plans may not be as firm as believed. Both
Crandall and Pogo president Burr declined to be interviewed by Show News, as
Burr now says "deliveries are too far away to discuss the operation."
The manufacturer will make some "significant customer
support announcements" at NBAA for the A500 and A700 programs, said Walker, who
declined to say whether any new orders will be part of the event.
Certification of the A700 will be made easier, according to
Walker, because two-thirds of the A500 parts will be on the A700. Eighty
percent of the suppliers will be the same for both aircraft. The A700 will have
the same tailboom, winglets, landing gear, door, windshield certified to 41,000
ft, and the same wing, but with a reinforced spar. The A700 will have the same
instrument panel, with the exception of the engine panel for its two Williams
FJ33-4 turbofans.
Since last year's NBAA Adam has outfitted A700 Serial 001
with a full interior, an additional Avidyne primary flight display (PFD) panel,
belly fuel pod, rudder and aileron trim, autopilot, pressurization and added
FADECs for the engines. Production A700s will have PFD and MFD panels.
The manufacturer has expanded the nose baggage area to 30 cu
ft to carry up to "four sets of golf clubs and a couple pieces of luggage,"
said Walker. At 240 cu ft, the A700 has one of the larger cabins of the VLJs
when compared with 205 cu ft of cabin space for the Cessna Mustang and 160 cu
ft for the Eclipse 500 VLJs.
Over 240 reports — 13,000 pages of documents — have been
submitted to FAA for certification of the two aircraft; 1.5 million man-hours
have been recorded. A third of the reports will not be required for A700
certification.
As of this writing, the first prototype A700 had logged over
300 hours of flight tests and completed well over 90% of structural integrity
tests. The A700 has been tested up to 30,000 ft at speeds of up 310 kts.
Adam plans to begin construction of a fully equipped A700
flight test article this summer, with first flight planned for the third
quarter. Production for the A500 will remain at the corporate headquarters at
Centennial Airport just outside of Denver and at a facility in Pueblo, Clorado.
The jet will be built at Adam's new facility in Ogden, Utah.
In addition to actual A500 and A700 aircraft, Adam will also
display an eight-passenger air taxi-configured A700 mockup in the convention
hall.
With the certification efforts winding up, Adam will now
focus on marketing its next generation aircraft. Initially, the company will
market the A700 and A500 in North America, where 75% of the market resides,
according to internal studies.
But as both programs mature, "we will be expanding into Europe,"
Walker revealed. "We're anxious to expand our horizons." He said the company
would have more to say on future marketing efforts during NBAA.
—Robert W. Moorman
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