Delays (Still) With Liberty's Certification Cited

The company that was doing the composite work for the pretty little Liberty XL-2 airplane is closing its Montrose (CO) plant, and sending its 48 workers home.

In a Denver Post exclusive, the company's VP of Finance, Steve Savoy, said, "Things had been slow; they kind of expected it... The bad news was, there had been some potential to have the company sold and for whatever reason, it fell through."

Precision Castparts Corporation, of Portland (OR) bought STW in 1999 as part of a larger deal, and has been trying, on and off, to sell it since then. Scaled Tech has been in Montrose since 1966, when it began operations at the Montrose Regional Airport.

Although STW was involved in many projects, including UAV parts for Fortune 100 companies, its focus was as the producer of the Liberty's composite structures. The Liberty hasn't gotten nearly as close to certification as it needs to be, at this point in its development; and that has strained those close to the program. We could not reach Liberty for official comment.

Liberty, of course, left Colorado last Fall, in a move to Florida's Space Coast, where they still plan to manufacture their airplane. They have the STW molds and tooling, and plan on using Florida's vast composite-structures talent pool, to keep manufacturing closer to home. Liberty says it is still working on getting the XL-2 certified, and on gearing up a production facility.

FMI: www.stwcomposites.com, www.libertyaircraft.com