Dave Hall, CEO of MotoArt PlaneTags, spoke with AERO-TV at the Sun ‘n Fun in April. First he talked about securing a stabilizer from a Lockheed Martin SR-71. It was from the first Blackbird that was manufactured and Hall said it came to them, they weren’t looking for it.
But then Lockheed Martin contacted him and asked, “How did you get this?” Although he didn’t say where or how he got it, Hall did say that the launch was delayed until Lockheed approved it. Lockheed did subsequently approve PlaneTags’ offering and they are officially licensed by the manufacturer.
Hall mentioned that it seems to be everyone’s favorite aircraft, and the second release of SR-71 tags will go on sale July 10 for three days, after which it will be taken offline. There will be some available at Oshkosh, and then there will be another re-release for Christmas.
Pricing will start at about $300 and then go up, but most of them will be closer to the $1,000 range. Hall says it’s only because they have such a huge request for it and paid a lot for the stabilizer, saying the supplier really knew the value of it.
PlaneTags is hoping to do a total 3,000 tags from the stabilizer. There will be both interior and exterior skins. The skin is almost all composite except for a small portion of titanium where the stabilizer connects to the aircraft. And the composite is so thick that they’re able to cut it in half, then the exterior commands the more premium priced tag relative to the interior skin which is the composite and the more affordable option.
When asked how many aircraft PlaneTags has made tags from, Hall said they are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year and they’ve documented almost 250 aircraft. This year they got a C-5 Galaxy that came from Travis Air Force Base, a Coast Guard C-130 that the company got in Hawaii, and they just returned from Moffat Field where they got the NASA Kuiper Observatory Aircraft. That is the Lockheed Martin C-141 but it’s the civilian L-300 version, which will be coming out on PlaneTags soon.
Hall loves doing what they’re doing because there is so much aviation history out there. And the museums love it too because it’s educational and they’re advocates of what PlaneTags is doing. Pima Air & Space and Smithsonian Air & Space are two of the largest retailers for PlaneTags so the company is just thrilled with what they’ve been able to accomplish so far.
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