Can a kit aircraft builder come back from the brink of oblivion?

By ANN Correspondent Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien

In July 2003, Express Aircraft LLC had to answer the question after the disastrous loss of co-founder, owner and President Larry Olson in an accident. It was the worst kind of accident for a kit airplane company: the key man was killed, an important prototype was destroyed, and it all happened in the days before the sport's most visible trade show, EAA Airventure at Oshkosh.

Yet, at this Spring's S-n-F, Express had a large presence with two aircraft in the booth, new owners, key personnel on hand, and looking for all intents like a seamless continuation of he old company - because it was.

They Looked Doomed… But They Recovered

How do you come back from a disaster like that?

Some things worked in Express's favor. Larry had been training an understudy, Allyn Roe, as a future successor, so a potential manager was on hand (and Allyn continues as general manager today). The accident, while it remains under investigation, does not appear to be related to any deficiency in the Express aircraft design or kit. And there was a cadre of Express builders who knew what the design could do, and that did not want to see the company fail. The new owners stepped forward from among their number.

This was the Express kit's third near-death experience. Ken Wheeler created the original Wheeler Express in the 1980s, when composite airplanes were new and exotic, and a four-seat experimentals were one-off rarities. When introduced in 1987 the Wheeler Express was the first 4-seat composite homebuilt, as well as one of the fastest four-seaters, period. Two accidents - both of which were determined, ultimately, to be pilot error - cast a pall over the machine right when a recession and market saturation had already eroded sales. The controversy over the original Wheeler Express's small, "cruciform" or high tail, didn't help. Wheeler couldn't recover, and went bankrupt.

But the airplane was too good to keep down.  A group of builders who worked on a modification to the original Express wound up reintroducing a conventional-tailed variant of the Express in the early nineties. When their version went off the market, again after a fatal pilot-error accident, Larry Olson and Paul Fagerstrom acquired the business in 1996-97. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that they were Express builders: the history of the plane is full of people who loved the machine so much that they bought the company,

After Larry Olson's untimely death, the current owners, husband-and-wife team Nancy Moon and Roy Davis, stepped up and bought the company from Paul Fagerstrom and Larry's widow, Ila. The company was a going concern with machines in various states of assembly, dedicated employees, devoted builders, and a good design. Nancy and Roy had just been through the builders'-assist program so that they were full of ideas on how to make it better. They stepped back from the turbine version that had been Larry Olson's personal vision, and concentrate today on making fixed-gear (FT) and RG versions of the Express that can make "low-time pilots like myself feel safe in even under IFR conditions," as Roy Davis said soon after acquiring the company.

What's So Special About the Express?

First, it's fast, like the name suggests: the fixed gear version can true out at 190 kts. The initial design was by Ken Wheeler and a team of consultants, and Ken had previously built a Glasair (no slouch in the speed department).

Second, it's slow. You can slow down the machine to safe landing speeds that are familiar to any Cessna 182 pilot. Stall speeds are in the 50-knot range in both fixed and retractable versions.

Second, it hauls a lot. You can fill the four seats of the Express with 200-lb. people and still have 100 to 200 lb for luggage - with full fuel. That means a range of up to 1200 NM. The seats are even large enough to hold tall people - 6'4" is no problem front or rear. Since the initial Express was introduced in 1987, the machine has received a second entry door, a large baggage door/ emergency exit, spring aluminum gear, and a redesigned and much larger tail (especially the horizontal). Many of these upgrades to the Express have been aimed at increasing payload and loading and unloading convenience. 

A lot of machines are fast.  A lot of machines can be stuffed with the contents of McGee's closet. Not many machines can do both (and they tend to come with seven-figure price tags. (PC-12?) Of course, an experimental amateur-built airworthiness certificate has certain advantages of its own.

Unlike many speedy planes, insurance isn't a big problem. Allyn said that, thanks to their close cooperation with their agent and AIG, it isn't; the typical Express FT builder pays about $3,000 a year, including hull coverage. That is a very good deal for such a high-performance machine. 

And… one of the things that has to sell a lot of Expresses is the look of the plane. It looks fast standing still, let alone moving. And it looks like nothing else. One of the nice things about composites is that they allow makers to be unique.

Finally, it goes together quickly, as amateur-built aircraft go, thanks to that Builder's Assist program.

Builders' Assist, Express Style

Even before Nancy and Roy took over Express, the key to the slow and steady growth of the Express population has been the Builders' Assist program. The Express builder who chooses this option - and 95% of them do - spends three sessions of two weeks each at the Express plant in Tumwater, WA, near Olympia, to make major progress on their aircraft and fulfill the FAA's unbending 51% completion requirement for aircraft which will be registered under Experimental - Amateur-Built rules.

In the Builders' Assist six weeks, a builder often gets as much work done as he might in two or three years at home, thanks to the factory jigs, expert assistance, and absence of distractions.

After that, what remains is largely the sort of work that can legally be contracted out - panel, firewall forward, and paint. Express Aircraft's Finishing Services can also help the kit builder with this. Express also provides instruction to the degree of depth necessary, in the factory's or the builder's plane.

The standard engine on the Express is the Continental IO-550. Many of the builders now are opting for the IO-550F FADEC equipped engine (or the turbo version). At present, Express Aircraft has a backlog of 19 machines underway, and 7 of them will be FADEC equipped.

In the end, the builder has an airplane that he or she knows intimately, but that was also built under expert advice and control, and that stands out - both in a crowd and by its performance.

FMI: www.express-aircraft.com