Ramps Up For Increased Production

At a Thursday conference at AirVenture 2007, Rick Adam, founder and CEO of Adam Aircraft, detailed the redirection of resources for its piston and jet twins -- from development and certification, to production.

To date, seven A500 piston twins have been delivered. To increase that figure, Adam aims to reduce production time for each aircraft from 14 months to 14 weeks.

Sometime within 2008, the A500 build rate will be three per month, and A700 will ramp up from three per month to 10 or more per month. Both aircraft share a common mid-fuselage assembly; the fanjet engines of the A700 are easier to install than the piston Continentals, meaning substantial time savings.

The seven A500s delivered met the May 2005 Type Certificate for Day VFR, to which Night, IFR, and pressurization were added in September of 2006.

New enhancements including Traffic Advisory (available), XM Weather and Audio (available), Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (FAA Testing complete), and protection from Inadvertent Icing (FAA Testing complete.) Projects nearing completion include air conditioning.

Adam A700 flight test program will grow from two to four machines. The first two have accumulated over 800 hours. Initial steps in the European certification process have been made to support fleet customer Nexus Jets, who have ordered 96.

Service centers have been contracted largely for Cirrus Design Service Centers because of the similarity in Continental powerplants, composite structure, and Avidyne Avionics.

Training program simulator hardware for A500 will be in place by July 2008. A700 hardware will include a Mechtronix Full Motion Simulator in December 2008.

Adam concluded by remarking that interest from Europe and China has been surprisingly high. As ANN reported, the planemaker recently added 50 orders from its Chinese distributor, Hainan Zhong Hang Tai General Aviation Airlines.

FMI: www.adamaircraft.com