VISIONAIRE IS negotiating to assemble its Vantage single-turbofan business jet in Israel. The Chesterfield, Missouri-based company, already plans to assemble the six-place, all-composite aircraft in Ames, Iowa, and is projecting first deliveries for late 1998 (Flight International, 4-10 October, 1995).
VisionAire president Tom Stark says, that the company has been approached by, parties interested in building the aircraft in Israel. An Israeli company, STED, has been formed to apply for "approved-enterprise" status, which would provide access to Israeli Government grants and guaranteed loans, he says. Israviation has secured similar backing for development of its ST50 single-turboprop business aircraft.
Stark says that VisionAire has always planned to set up assembly sites for the Vantage. Arad, south of Jerusalem, has been selected as the preferred site for an assembly plant. Plans call for Vantages to begin rolling off the Israeli assembly line about one year after the first aircraft are delivered from Ames in the USA.
VisionAire still plans to certificate the Vantage in the late 1998, despite a delay in the first flight of the proof-of-concept (PoC) aircraft to November at the earliest. The PoC aircraft is being built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites (SCI). Funding was not available for an April first flight, admits Stark.
The Vantage is powered by a single 13kN (2,900lb)-thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5 turbofan. Stark says that SCI will either manufacture airframes for production aircraft or license its filament-winding process to subcontractors. VisionAire has $10,000 non-refundable deposits on 33 of the $1.6 million aircraft.
Source: Flight International