Prestige Aircraft's First Test Flight Conducted February 16

Prestige Aircraft was flying high Friday following the first successful test flight of its first airplane at Michigan's Jackson County Airport.

The first Storm Rally LSA was completed on December 20, 2006 and fully built in the US by Prestige Aircraft Company. The light-sport plane, marked 000-1, is the very first of its kind made entirely in Michigan.

Said test pilot Mick Reed, in an interview with Lansing's 6 News, "After flying it, they did a wonderful job, just wonderful." The pilot called it one of the best he's seen.

The Storm Rally can travel 800 miles, and costs $100,000.Prestige Air will manufacture the planes in a hangar at the Jackson Airport.

While the company currently has 10 employees, now that Prestige has taken to the air, they say the sky's the limit.

Said Prestige CEO Dale Smith, "We expect to have 300 people working here in five years, and we'll be building 1,000 planes a year."

The flight test comes much later than expected due to several unanticipated delays since the holiday business closures, including delays such as approval for flight test areas, scheduling issues, and the ever changing weather, reported the company.

"This is a great moment for the company and the community of Jackson," Smith said.

Flight testing of the Storm Rally LSA will resume next week weather permitting.

Prestige Aircraft started as an idea only to import Light Sport Aircraft for distribution in North America. The company selected Storm Aircraft Srl of Sabaudia, Italy, to supply the aircraft.

Throughout the long process of establishing the groundwork to import aircraft for distribution, the company realized the only way to have sufficient aircraft in the US to sell, was to actually build the planes in the US.

Storm Aircraft Srl gave an exclusive 30 year license to Prestige Aircraft to manufacture and/or import all existing and future models of Light-Sport Aircraft and/or Part 23 planes designed by Storm Aircraft Srl.

FMI: www.prestigeaircraft.us