пятница, 14 сентября 2012 г.

Flight risk: the Seminole Tribe's effort to resurrect a 1950s sport plane was an expensive lesson in the challenges of plane-making.(AVIATION)(Estumkeda Ltd) - Florida Trend

There's an old saying in the aviation industry that if you want to make a small fortune building airplanes, start with a big one. In the mid-1990s, the Seminoles--then headed by Chief James E. Billie, an avid pilot--were looking for ways to diversify the tribe's holdings. Billie led the tribe into aviation: The tribe decided to upgrade and manufacture the Meyers 145, a two-seat sport airplane that had originally been designed in the 1950s.

With the venture under the newly created corporate banner of Estumkeda Ltd., the tribe got to work--and soon found itself burning through big chunks of cash.

First, a Texas company that held the rights to the Meyers name sued Estumkeda, which subsequently changed the airplane's name to the Micco (after Billie's son). Then there was the expensive process of getting the Federal Aviation Administration to issue what's called a 'type certificate,' the necessary approval for the improvements and modernization of the Meyers' original design. In a separate process, the FAA also had to approve the manufacturing process as well, which is called a production certificate.

By the time the first Micco SP-20 rolled out the door of the tribe's manufacturing facility at the St. Lucie County International Airport in early 2000, the design, factory and federal approvals had cost Estumkeda about $10 million.

With a sticker of about $150,000, the SP-20 carried an entry-level price tag while promising sporty performance. In the end, however, the plane couldn't deliver the 200 horsepower it had promised. But Estumkeda was already working on plans for a higher-performance, $200,000 aerobatic model, the Micco SP-26.

Meanwhile, however, in early 2001--shortly after it got federal approval to sell the airplanes--the Seminole Tribe had ousted Billie amid a sexual harassment claim and a series of federal investigations into the tribe's handling of federal grant money.

Many Seminoles had viewed the airplane project as Billie's personal pet project. With him out of the picture, the tribe eagerly began searching for a buyer for Micco. Then-Micco President E DeWitt Beckett and aviation consultant Jack Karibo tried to piece together a deal to buy the business for $1.5 million, but a meeting to finalize the plan never occurred.

'I don't really know what happened,' Karibo says. 'There was supposed to be a meeting, but there just wasn't. I don't know if it was just the Seminoles saying they didn't want anything to do with Beckett or what.'

The Micco production line shut down in 2002 after the company had sold a total of 18 airplanes for about $3.6 million--far short of the 75 to 80 per year called for in the business plan. The Seminoles were some $24 million in the red on the venture. At its peak the factory employed 97 people.

A potential buyer emerged in the form of a Bangladeshi immigrant named Wadi Rahim, an entrepreneur who in 2002 had bought the assets of Lake Aircraft Co., a 50-year-old company that produced amphibious flying boats from a factory in Sanford, Maine.

Former Lake Aircraft owner Armand Rivard told Rahim about the Micco facility in Fort Pierce, and Rahim struck a deal with the Seminoles in April 2003 and moved Lake Aircraft and several key employees to Florida.

In the process, Rahim began shifting assets among holding companies and pledged Lake Aircraft assets against the debt owed to the Seminoles for the Micco purchase. The problem was, Rahim already owed Rivard $8 million from the Lake Aircraft purchase--and had pledged those same assets as collateral to Rivard.

Rivard and the Seminoles sued Rahim, and on June 25, 2004, Rahim arrived at work to rind the locks changed on the Micco factory. Production of both the Micco and the Lake airplanes came to an unceremonious halt.

Rahim countered by saying Rivard provided fraudulent information at the time of the Lake Aircraft transaction. In late 2004, the court sided with Rivard and Estumkeda. The assets of Lake reverted back to Rivard, and the Micco assets went back to the Seminole Tribe. Attempts to locate Rahim for comment were unsuccessful.

Micco's assets went on file auction block Jan. 15 through Certified Auction Co. of West Palm Beach. They were also listed for sale on the internet auction site eBay with a starting bid of $100,000 but failed to draw an online bid. A live auction was more successful, however, with a telephone bidder reportedly agreeing to pay more than $1.1 million for the factory equipment and type certificate. The auction company refused to identify the high bidder, and Seminole Chief Operating Of ricer Stan Rodimon said in mid-March it would be premature to comment because the deal had not yet closed.

As for Rivard, he is talking to several parties about taking over manufacturing of Lake Aircraft, a business he owned for more than 35 years.

'I'm going to do a deal,' he says. 'Unfortunately, it might be with an offshore company. I'd really like it to stay in the country, but I'm 70 years old, and that's too old to start over again.'

 MICCO SP-26  Original certification    1948  Seats                     2 Cruise speed              178 mph Ceiling                   18,000 feet Maximum Weight            2,850 pounds Wingspan                  30 feet, 4 inches Length                    24 feet, 1 inch Price                     $199,500 

UPDATE

The New Jets

In September 2002, a FLORIDA TREND cover story profiled a number of aviation-related businesses around the state. Several produced planes or jet engines that could be part of an eventual system of short-haul air taxi service ferrying passengers among airports around the state. An update:

Eclipse: Picking Up Attitude

Eclipse Aviation, bankrolled by former Microsoft executive Vern Raburn, has been conducting flight tests of its revolutionary Eclipse 500 very light jet since Dec. 31. Six additional jets are in production and will join the test program when they are completed.

With a projected operating cost of about 69 cents per mile, the 430-mph jet will cost only slightly more to run than a high-end luxury car--after you pay the $1.2-million purchase price, that is.

With seating for six, the Eclipse promises to create a new industry of point-to-point air taxis with ticket prices comparable to a coach seat on a discount airline.

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Safire: Crash Landing?

Satire Aircraft Co. started off in West Palm Beach with a plan lifted right out of the Eclipse book. The Safire design evolved into a larger, slightly more expensive aircraft.

The company took on outside investors in an effort to raise the tens of millions of dollars necessary to develop a prototype and moved operations to Opa-Locka Airport in Miami.

Like Eclipse, Safire ran into problems getting engines to power this new generation of jets. The delays took their toll, and financing evaporated in May 2004. The company had contracted out production work for the first prototype, but it was never completed. The company's telephone has been disconnected, and Safire did not file its annual corporate report with the state of Florida at the beginning of 2005. Its website was last updated in May 2004, and attempts to contact the company have been unsuccessful.

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Cessna: Riding the Mustang

Seeing the success of Eclipse and the emergence of technology to make it happen, Cessna began work on its own very light jet, a model called the Citation Mustang. Cessna's CJ1 is the smallest and least expensive FAA-approved jet, but still tips the scales at 10,800 pounds and more than $4 million.

With the Mustang, Cessna hopes to chop 40% off the price tag, while still offering such business jet amenities as an on-board toilet. The wings have been installed on the prototype airplane, and Cessna hopes to make the first Mustang flight this year, with first customer deliveries planned for the fourth quarter of 2006.

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