Hopes To Resurrect Venerable Tiger AG-5B

Three months after True Flight Holdings, LLC purchased the type certificate for the single-engine, four-seat Tiger AG-5B, manufacturing offshoot True Flight Aerospace announced Thursday the selection of Valdosta, GA as the site for its new 60,000 square foot manufacturing plant.

According to True Flight CEO Kevin Lancaster, the decision was a tough one but in the end the support of the state and local leadership made Valdosta the clear choice. "Valdosta is a great location," he said. "It has the infrastructure, skilled labor pool and forward looking leaders that continue to attract new businesses to the area."

The new facility will be located at the Valdosta Regional Airport on approximately 14 acres of land with an option for an additional 11 acres.  Once completed, the plant will have space to bring many of the previously outsourced processes on site.

According to Loyd Montague, Vice President and COO, "a key to controlling costs will be True Flight's ability to perform more of its own manufacturing. Our previous facility was primarily an assembly plant. Here we will have the ability to better control our production schedules and costs by bringing critical operations in house."

The company is expected to create 150 jobs over three years and invest $3.8 million.

As ANN reported, True Flight was the sole bidder for the TC for the AG-5B, following Chapter 7 liquidation of the former Tiger Aircraft Company. True Flight is the latest in a long line of producers of the four-seat Tiger... including Grumman American, Gulfstream American, and American General Aviation Corporation.

True Flight Aerospace plans to build the AG-5B Tiger at several option levels, ranging from a basic VFR aircraft all the way up to a plane sporting the Garmin G1000 electronic flight deck. Now-defunct Tiger Aircraft earned FAA certification for the G1000 installation in 2005.

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Aircraft