Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation
Encyclopedia
SyberJet Aircraft, formerly Emivest Aerospace Corporation, and prior to that Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation SSAC, (ICAO name: SINO SWEARINGEN) is an aircraft manufacturer. Their primary product is the Swearingen SJ30-2 small business jet
. The company's headquarters is on the property of San Antonio International Airport
in San Antonio, Texas
, with additional assembly facility in the John D. Rockefeller IV Technology Center at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport - Martinsburg (KMRB)
in Martinsburg, West Virginia
.
After over a decade of non-starts, the company was purchased in August, 2008 by Emirates Investment and Development Corporation and is now known as Emivest Aerospace Corporation.
The company was founded as Swearingen Aircraft by Ed Swearingen
in 1959. Early work by the company included the development of prototype
aircraft for other manufacturers; such as the Twin Comanche prototype developed for Piper Aircraft during 1962 and the development of several research helicopter
s for the Bell Helicopter Company, work which led to the HueyCobra
. The company also developed modifications of other designs, an activity Ed Swearingen had been involved in prior to his forming Swearingen Aircraft. These modification programmes included the Excalibur 800 conversion of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza
, so-called because the output of its two new Lycoming IO-720 engines
was 800 horsepower
; airframe improvements included modifying the cabin to allow entry via an airstair
instead of over the RH wing via a door on the RH side of the cockpit, and landing gear doors that fully enclosed the gear when it was retracted. The airstair was factory-fitted by Beechcraft during manufacture of the ultimate J50 model of the Twin Bonanza. The Queen Air development of the Twin Bonanza also received the Swearingen treatment, the Queen Air Excalibur having less-extensive modifications also involving fitment of 400 hp IO-720s, replacing the more troublesome and lower-power geared Lycoming engines installed at manufacture, and the enclosed landing gear doors (the Queen Air was designed from the outset with an airstair). The US Army
had several of its U-8 versions of the Queen Air modified to this standard. Excalibur aircraft are easily distinguishable from standard Twin Bonanzas and Queen Airs by the landing gear doors and the more rectangular engine cowlings of the Excaliburs compared to the rounded cowlings of the originals.
The Excaliburs led to the first Swearingen design, the SA26 Merlin, which could be described as a pressurized
Excalibur. The Merlin had modified Queen Air wings with redesigned fuel tanks, Queen Air horizontal tails, and Twin Bonanza landing gear. The Merlin's fuselage and vertical fin represented Swearingen's contribution to the overall design. The next step was turbine power, through the SA26-T Merlin IIA with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
s and the follow-on SA26-AT Merlin IIB with Garrett TPE331 turboprops. Next came the all-new SA226-T Merlin III with new wings, landing gear and cruciform horizontal tail mated to a slightly stretched version of the fuselage used on the Merlin II series. The design effort reached its logical conclusion with the Metro
series of 19-seat airline aircraft, the first of which had its first flight on August 26, 1969. By this time the company was in financial difficulties and lacked the resources to proceed further, so the Metro did not enter production until Swearingen Aircraft was taken over by Fairchild in 1972. The company was then renamed the Swearingen Aviation Corporation with Ed Swearingen a 10% shareholder and Chairman of the Board of directors
. When the last Metro 23 left the production line in 1998, a total of 1,053 Merlins and Metros had been produced, comprising 350 short-fuselage Merlins and 703 long-fuselage Merlins and Metros.
In 1973 Ed Swearingen formed a new company and went back to modifying aircraft, developing a new version of the
Lockheed Jetstar
on behalf of the manufacturer and Garrett
. The modifications entailed installing new Garrett TFE731
engines and aerodynamic improvements to the airframe, increasing the Jetstar's range from 1800 nautical miles (3,333.6 km) to 2600 nautical miles (4,815.2 km) with no increase in fuel capacity. The company then manufactured jet engine nacelles and other aircraft components as a subcontractor to various manufacturers including Cessna
, Gates Lear Jet and Dassault. On May 1, 1982 Ed Swearingen resigned from Fairchild and exercised his right to reacquire the Swearingen business name. Fairchild changed the name of Swearingen Aviation to Fairchild Aircraft Corporation and Ed Swearingen's company then became the Swearingen Aircraft Corporation.
The company devoted its energies to developing a new small jet for the general aviation
market, which was eventually developed into the SJ30-2
. The company was renamed Sino Swearingen in 1995 and it was converted into a limited company from a partnership on November 5, 1999. Financial backers of the company include the 經濟部 Ministry of Economic Affairs, - Government of Taiwan
. The company is privately held, and sales for 2005 are reported at US$ 25.3 million.
SSAC has spent over 12 years and over US$700 million in total investment to this date in the development of the SJ30-2. Sino Swearingen is poised for takeover in the coming weeks by investors from Dubai who were introduced to Sino Swearingen by Action Aviation, Sino Swearingen’s largest distributor. The Dubai-based company will become the majority shareholder in Sino Swearingen, with the Taiwanese government and private investors such as Action Aviation taking minority stakes.
The acquisition by the Dubai investors follows the withdrawal from the sale in 2007 of SSAC's former investor, ACQ Capital, which was unable to proceed due to its exposure to the US sub-prime market. On September 17, 2008, a press release claims that the Dubai investors will provide additional funding of up to $1 billion to help it design and develop its second aircraft model..
The orderbook for the $7.5 million aircraft has remained largely unaffected by the funding setbacks, with the tally exceeding 300 units including 159 from Action Aviation.
As of June 15, 2011, the Cedar City, Utah
-based company that purchased Emivest Aerospace out of bankruptcy, MT LC, announced that the new company name would be SyberJet Aircraft.
Business jet
Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals...
. The company's headquarters is on the property of San Antonio International Airport
San Antonio International Airport
San Antonio International Airport is a commercial airport in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The airport has three runways and covers . Its elevation is above sea level. SAT is a Class C airport.- Overview :...
in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, with additional assembly facility in the John D. Rockefeller IV Technology Center at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport - Martinsburg (KMRB)
Eastern WV Regional Airport
Eastern WV Regional Airport , also known as Shepherd Field, is a joint civil-military public airport located four miles south of the central business district of Martinsburg, a city in Berkeley County, West Virginia, USA....
in Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 census; according to a 2009 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 17,117, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the eighth largest...
.
After over a decade of non-starts, the company was purchased in August, 2008 by Emirates Investment and Development Corporation and is now known as Emivest Aerospace Corporation.
History
Ed Swearingen
Edward J. Swearingen in Lockhart, Texas is an aeronautical engineer based in San Antonio, Texas.-Life:Swearingen is notable for developing modifications from existing production aircraft such as the Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche from the Piper PA-24 Comanche single engine series, the Swearingen Merlin...
in 1959. Early work by the company included the development of prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
aircraft for other manufacturers; such as the Twin Comanche prototype developed for Piper Aircraft during 1962 and the development of several research helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s for the Bell Helicopter Company, work which led to the HueyCobra
AH-1 Cobra
The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a two-bladed, single engine attack helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It shares a common engine, transmission and rotor system with the older UH-1 Iroquois...
. The company also developed modifications of other designs, an activity Ed Swearingen had been involved in prior to his forming Swearingen Aircraft. These modification programmes included the Excalibur 800 conversion of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza
Beechcraft Twin Bonanza
|-See also:-References:Twin Bonanza Association http://twinbonanza.com...
, so-called because the output of its two new Lycoming IO-720 engines
Lycoming Engines
Lycoming Engines is a U.S. aircraft engine company, known primarily for its general aviation engines. For most of its history Lycoming has been part of the AVCO group as AVCO Lycoming. In 1987 AVCO was purchased by Textron to become Textron Lycoming...
was 800 horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
; airframe improvements included modifying the cabin to allow entry via an airstair
Airstair
An airstair is a passenger staircase that is built in to an airliner — often, though not always, on the inside of a clamshell-style door. The stairs can be raised or lowered while the aircraft is on the ground, allowing passengers and ground personnel to board or depart the aircraft without the...
instead of over the RH wing via a door on the RH side of the cockpit, and landing gear doors that fully enclosed the gear when it was retracted. The airstair was factory-fitted by Beechcraft during manufacture of the ultimate J50 model of the Twin Bonanza. The Queen Air development of the Twin Bonanza also received the Swearingen treatment, the Queen Air Excalibur having less-extensive modifications also involving fitment of 400 hp IO-720s, replacing the more troublesome and lower-power geared Lycoming engines installed at manufacture, and the enclosed landing gear doors (the Queen Air was designed from the outset with an airstair). The US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
had several of its U-8 versions of the Queen Air modified to this standard. Excalibur aircraft are easily distinguishable from standard Twin Bonanzas and Queen Airs by the landing gear doors and the more rectangular engine cowlings of the Excaliburs compared to the rounded cowlings of the originals.
The Excaliburs led to the first Swearingen design, the SA26 Merlin, which could be described as a pressurized
Cabin pressurization
Cabin pressurization is the pumping of compressed air into an aircraft cabin to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for crew and passengers when flying at altitude.-Need for cabin pressurization:...
Excalibur. The Merlin had modified Queen Air wings with redesigned fuel tanks, Queen Air horizontal tails, and Twin Bonanza landing gear. The Merlin's fuselage and vertical fin represented Swearingen's contribution to the overall design. The next step was turbine power, through the SA26-T Merlin IIA with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is one of the most popular turboprop aircraft engines in history, and is produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. The PT6 family is particularly well known for its extremely high reliability, with MTBO's on the order of 9000 hours in some models. In US military use, they...
s and the follow-on SA26-AT Merlin IIB with Garrett TPE331 turboprops. Next came the all-new SA226-T Merlin III with new wings, landing gear and cruciform horizontal tail mated to a slightly stretched version of the fuselage used on the Merlin II series. The design effort reached its logical conclusion with the Metro
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner
The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner or the Fairchild Aerospace Metro is a 19-seat, pressurised, twin turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild at a plant in San Antonio, Texas, United States....
series of 19-seat airline aircraft, the first of which had its first flight on August 26, 1969. By this time the company was in financial difficulties and lacked the resources to proceed further, so the Metro did not enter production until Swearingen Aircraft was taken over by Fairchild in 1972. The company was then renamed the Swearingen Aviation Corporation with Ed Swearingen a 10% shareholder and Chairman of the Board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. When the last Metro 23 left the production line in 1998, a total of 1,053 Merlins and Metros had been produced, comprising 350 short-fuselage Merlins and 703 long-fuselage Merlins and Metros.
In 1973 Ed Swearingen formed a new company and went back to modifying aircraft, developing a new version of the
Lockheed Jetstar
Lockheed JetStar
The Lockheed JetStar is a business jet produced from the early 1960s through the 1970s. The JetStar was the first dedicated business jet to enter service. It was also one of the largest aircraft in the class for many years, seating ten plus two crew...
on behalf of the manufacturer and Garrett
Garrett AiResearch
Garrett AiResearch was a manufacturer of turboprop engines and turbochargers, and a pioneer in numerous aerospace technologies. It was previously known as Aircraft Tool and Supply Company, Garrett Supply Company, AiResearch Manufacturing Company, or simply AiResearch...
. The modifications entailed installing new Garrett TFE731
Honeywell TFE731
|-See also:-External links:*...
engines and aerodynamic improvements to the airframe, increasing the Jetstar's range from 1800 nautical miles (3,333.6 km) to 2600 nautical miles (4,815.2 km) with no increase in fuel capacity. The company then manufactured jet engine nacelles and other aircraft components as a subcontractor to various manufacturers including Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
, Gates Lear Jet and Dassault. On May 1, 1982 Ed Swearingen resigned from Fairchild and exercised his right to reacquire the Swearingen business name. Fairchild changed the name of Swearingen Aviation to Fairchild Aircraft Corporation and Ed Swearingen's company then became the Swearingen Aircraft Corporation.
The company devoted its energies to developing a new small jet for the general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
market, which was eventually developed into the SJ30-2
Sino Swearingen SJ30-2
-External links:* | Airliners.net* - Aerospace Technology* * - Jet Advisors* - Flight International, 04/25/2006* - Flight International, 10/12/2009...
. The company was renamed Sino Swearingen in 1995 and it was converted into a limited company from a partnership on November 5, 1999. Financial backers of the company include the 經濟部 Ministry of Economic Affairs, - Government of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The company is privately held, and sales for 2005 are reported at US$ 25.3 million.
SSAC has spent over 12 years and over US$700 million in total investment to this date in the development of the SJ30-2. Sino Swearingen is poised for takeover in the coming weeks by investors from Dubai who were introduced to Sino Swearingen by Action Aviation, Sino Swearingen’s largest distributor. The Dubai-based company will become the majority shareholder in Sino Swearingen, with the Taiwanese government and private investors such as Action Aviation taking minority stakes.
The acquisition by the Dubai investors follows the withdrawal from the sale in 2007 of SSAC's former investor, ACQ Capital, which was unable to proceed due to its exposure to the US sub-prime market. On September 17, 2008, a press release claims that the Dubai investors will provide additional funding of up to $1 billion to help it design and develop its second aircraft model..
The orderbook for the $7.5 million aircraft has remained largely unaffected by the funding setbacks, with the tally exceeding 300 units including 159 from Action Aviation.
As of June 15, 2011, the Cedar City, Utah
Cedar City, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...
-based company that purchased Emivest Aerospace out of bankruptcy, MT LC, announced that the new company name would be SyberJet Aircraft.