The lead investor for the North American Factory for Technologically Advanced Aircraft, a company created in 2008 to restart production of the two-seat Symphony SA-160 piston single, says a new factory in Louisiana could be operational by the end of the year to build several aircraft models.
In addition to 160hp (120kW) and 200hp versions of the Symphony, NAFTAA chief investor Lou Simons says the facility will also produce the Weatherly 620B, an aircraft designed for agricultural applications and firefighting that was first produced in 1961. NAFTAA purchased the assets of Weatherly Aircraft Nevada, a wholly owned subsidiary of MP2 Technologies, in August and Symphony's assets in early 2008.
There are roughly 200 of the Pratt & Whitney 985R radial-powered 620Bs in operation in the USA. The design is based on the Fairchild PT-19.
"The reason we bought the assets is that much of the assembly is quite similar to Symphony," says Simons, including a steel cage fuselage and aluminium wings. "There's a great deal of commonality," he says. "Both will be low-production aircraft. If the sales of crop dusters are slow, we'll build Symphonys, and vice versa."
Simons says the company is not yet taking orders for either aircraft and has not set production targets. In 2008 NAFTAA said it would produce as many as 110 Symphony aircraft a year by 2010 once production was restarted. Symphony, based in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, had built 45 aircraft before seeking protection from creditors in 2006.
Simons says Weatherly aircraft parts, inventory and equipment is already in the new plant and NAFTAA would soon move inventory, production tooling and other equipment for the Symphony line as well.
He says the company has a "skeleton crew" in Louisiana, but is "not going to gear up" and hire new employees until receiving a production certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration later this year. "It's going to be Christmas cheer for some people down there who desperately need employment," he says.
Source: Flight International
