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.