VisionAire Jets – the new owner of the Vantage single-engined business aircraft – is planning to fly the first conforming prototype of the modernised entry-level jet in 2014 and is seeking up to $140 million to fund the programme through to certification and first deliveries.
VisionAire chief executive Jim Rice is a founder of the original Vantage programme and managed the company – also called VisionAire – until it was forced into Chapter 7 liquidation in 2003. “We were hit by the fallout of 9/11,” Rice says of the company’s demise. “We could not raise the finance. Nobody was interested in funding an aircraft programme at that time despite the fact we had an 155-strong orderbook and had a proof-of-concept prototype that had flown more than 500h.”
The Vantage technical drawings, trademarks and tooling were acquired later that year by US venture Eviation Jets, which established a subsidiary in S?o Paulo to manage the programme, which it dubbed the EV-20. “They set about trying to change the design from a single to twin-engine aircraft powered by Williams FJ44-1APs,” Rice says. “This proved to be a big mistake. Not only is it very costly to redesign an aircraft but it is unwise for a company with no track record to go head to head with an established brand like Cessna – which dominates the entry-level business jet sector.”
VisionAire bought the intellectual property from Eviation about six months ago, although Rice says Eviation owner Matt Eller continues to have a small stake in the new venture. “We are sticking to a single-engine concept. There was nothing like it on the market when the programme was launched [in the 1990s] and there is no comparable aircraft – a single-engine jet with an entry-level size cabin – now,” he adds.
The all-composite aircraft will be priced at about $2.25 million, will seat up to seven passengers and be certificated for single pilot operations. The new Vantage will be powered by a Williams International FJ44-3AP – replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15-B5 engine. “This should boost the range by about 400nm [740km], to 1500nm, and give the Vantage a cruise speed of around 375kt [694km/h],” says Rice. The new Vantage will also be equipped with Garmin G3000 avionics.
The Vantage will be built in Newton, North Carolina, where the company is planning to open a manufacturing facility by the middle of the year. “In the meantime, we are establishing strategic alliances with composite manufacturers to build the tooling for the Vantage,” Rice says. “Our aim is to fly the first of four conforming aircraft within 20 months, leading to certification and first deliveries in 2016,” Rice adds.
VisionAire has received a positive response from foreign investors and is close to securing a letter of intent for “a large sum of money”. “The interest in the programme has come from offshore in countries such as a China,” Rice says. “In the long term this country could be a big market for the Vantage and we may consider setting up an second assembly base to cater for this demand,” he adds
Tony Hague is headingup the eight-strong collaboration of world class engineering businesses as it enters its seventh year and believes there has never been a better time for the group to secure more work.
Automotive, aerospace and electronics have been identified as the three sectors that could benefit most from its capabilities in mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering solutions.
“This is going to be an important year for MAN and one that we want to adopt a more aggressive approach to sales,” explained Mr Hague, who is managing director of PP Electrical Systems in Cheslyn Hay.
“We’ve already established a proven track record for world class quality and security of supply, with over ￡12m of contracts already delivered for a high profile global customer base.
“However, I know we can do more. We just need to be more pro-active and this will start with the recruitment of a dedicated sales consultant to represent the group.
“We’ll also be looking to develop a more sales driven website and marketing material and actively take the MAN message out to potential customers,” said Mr Hague.
MAN, which was established in 2006, is made up of eight members including Advanced Chemical Etching, Alucast, Brandauer, Barkley Plastics, FW Cables, PP Electrical Systems, SMT Developments and Westley Engineering.
Each company offers a different engineering solution, ranging from high volume precision pressings, electrical control systems and tooling to PCB assembly, wire harnesses and injection moulding.
Together, they boast nine world class manufacturing facilities and employ over 650 highly skilled professionals.
“There’s over ￡3 billion of opportunities currently available in the automotive industry at present so it seems like a natural sector to target, especially when you consider our experience in quality cost delivery performances,” added Mr Hague.
“Then you have the next generation of aircraft currently being developed…this offers some great opportunities to get involved in the design and prototype stage. Similar again with the latest electronics.”
Tim Burton and screenwriter John August create a very dark fairy tale about a young kid named Victor Frankenstein and his quest to reanimate his beloved bull terrier, Sparky. While this finely crafted stop-action effort may look like kids’ entertainment, in fiddling with this natural order, Burton throws up a very dark mirror to our childhood soul — where innocence isn’t lost in a memorable and life-defining moment of sorrow, but continuously electrocuted on the new wire fence surrounding paradise. Creepy, clever and downright disturbing, Burton’s movie achieves what only great fairy tales can: it creates an entire fantasy world that resonates as contemporary satire. Special features include new short, Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers, a behind the scenes look at the set and more.
Perhaps the furthest thing from escapist entertainment, this Canadian feature tells the story of a young girl abducted from her village and forced to become a child soldier. Directed by Kim Nguyen, the film has already been named Canada’s entry for best foreign language film at the Oscars. The lead performance from Rachel Mwanza has also been noted by the Berlin Film Festival, where she won the Silver Bear for best actress, as well as Tribeca, where she picked up the same honour for her magical embodiment of a fractured soul seeking wholeness. She makes this movie watchable when so much of the content is grotesque, violent and inhumane because we can feel her strength and goodness despite the ugliness. Nguyen brings a sense of the surreal through “visions” – and it lends the film a lightness, as well as profound tension. Delicate and poignant, Rebelle will transport the viewer to a place we may not want to see, but we know exists. Special features include digital transfer.
Trying to find the right friction point between muscle cars and political correctness could stall any vehicle, even one custom-designed by a veteran of clunker comedies who got his start playing “Vomiter at the Party.” Indeed, actor-writer-director Dax Shepard had only one of two proven options when approaching Hit & Run, a romantic comedy that uses car chases and gunplay in the same measure as pillow-talk and he-said-she-said relationship dysfunction. Enlisting his real life sweetheart Kristen Bell to play a sweet schoolteacher looking for a promotion, Shepard plays a man who sacrifices his place in witness protection to make his dreams come true. While the film turns on the charm jets when we’re in relationship mode, the film becomes inexcusably violent when it’s got its foot on the accelerator. The high point is Bradley Cooper as the psycho villain in terry cloth sweats. It’s not funny, or anything — just weird enough to be interesting. Special features include deleted scenes, Street Legal and behind the scenes footage.
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