Adam A500
Encyclopedia
Adam Aircraft Industries
Adam Aircraft Industries was an aircraft manufacturer founded by George F. Adam Jr and John C. Knudsen in 1998. The company was located at Centennial Airport in the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area of Colorado....
. The aircraft is of pod-and-boom
Twin boom
Twin-boom aircraft have their tailplanes and vertical stabilizers mounted on the tail of either two fuselages or on two booms fixed to either both sides of the single fuselage, the wings or the engine nacelles.The reason for this design choice may be:...
, push-pull configuration
Push-pull configuration
An aircraft constructed with a push-pull configuration has a mixture of forward-mounted propellers and backward-mounted propellers.-Historical:...
with its two Continental TSIO-550-E
Continental IO-550
The Continental IO-550 engine is a large family of fuel injected six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled aircraft engines that were developed for use in light aircraft by Teledyne Continental Motors...
piston engines mounted to provide centerline thrust
Push-pull configuration
An aircraft constructed with a push-pull configuration has a mixture of forward-mounted propellers and backward-mounted propellers.-Historical:...
.
Adam Aircraft ceased operations on 11 February 2008, and filed for Chapter 7
Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...
bankruptcy on 19 February 2008, having delivered seven A500s.
In April 2008 Adam Aircraft was purchased from bankruptcy by AAI Acquisition Inc. At the time of purchase this new company indicated that they would pursue certification of the A700 jet as a priority and that the A500 would not be produced due to the continuing poor market for piston-engined aircraft. AAI went out of business in April 2009 without producing any aircraft.
In July 2009 there was an indication that a new buyer, Triton America and Thomas Hsueh were interested in purchasing the A500 design and returning the aircraft to production.
In April 2011 Triton Aerospace of Skagit Regional Airport
Skagit Regional Airport
Skagit Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles west of the central business district of Burlington and northwest of Mount Vernon, both cities in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The airport is owned by the Port of Skagit County. It is situated in the Bayview Industrial...
in Burlington, Washington
Burlington, Washington
Burlington is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population is 8,388 as recorded by the 2010 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon–Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
announced that they had acquired the assets of Adam Aircraft, including the aircraft type certificate
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
and intend to return the A500 to production.
Design and development
The A500 was developed from the M-309 CarbonAero technology demonstrator designed by Burt RutanBurt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...
and built by Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
at the Mojave Airport
Mojave Spaceport
thumb|right|235px|A retired [[Boeing 767-200]] that flew for [[Ansett Australia]] being cut open for scrap at Mojave AirportThe Mojave Air and Space Port , also known as the Civilian Aerospace Test Center, is located in Mojave, California, at an elevation of...
. The "309" designation refers to this being Rutan's 309th aircraft design.
The 309 first flew in March 2000, but the aircraft has since been gutted and was used as a static display outside the Adam Aircraft Industries headquarters. In 2006 the 309 was loaned to the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum is located on the former grounds of Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. The museum, which opened in 1994, is housed in the Hangar #1 built in 1939. The museum preserves the history of Lowry AFB's operations from 1938 to 1994 in its...
and is now on display outside.
Compared to conventional twin-engine installations, the centerline thrust arrangement reduces drag and maximizes the controllability of the aircraft should one engine malfunction or fail. This engine configuration was used by the similar Cessna Skymaster
Cessna Skymaster
The Cessna Skymaster is a United States twin-engine civil utility aircraft built in a push-pull configuration. Its engines are mounted in the nose and rear of its pod-style fuselage. Twin booms extend aft of the wings to the vertical stabilizers, with the rear engine between them. The horizontal...
. The A500 airframe is largely built of carbon epoxy skins composite material
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
s with Nomex honeycomb core. Other features include cabin pressurization
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:...
.
The prototype A500 first flew on July 11, 2002 and was FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
certified
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
in May 2005.
In April 2011 the new owners of the type certificate, Triton Aerospace announced that they will continue development of the A500, with the aim of shedding weight from the design and restoring useful load. The aircraft will also be changed to a turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
, with twin engined and rear-engined-only versions. A new prototype is expected in 2013 with re-certification to follow. The company owner, Thomas Hsueh, indicated that for now production is planned for the USA, but costs may require moving the assembly line to China, or even a lower cost country, such as Mexico.
A500 payload issues
In evaluation flights conducted in 2007 the A500 was noted as being over the projected empty weight by 1260 lb (571.5 kg) or 30%.The initial design empty weight publicized in 2003 was 4200 lb (1,905.1 kg), while the actual empty weight of the serial number 7 A500 was 5460 lb (2,476.6 kg). Initial gross weight was to be 6300 lb (2,857.6 kg), which was increased to 7000 lb (3,175.1 kg). This resulted in a change of useful load from a forecast 2100 to 1540 lb (952.5 to 698.5 kg).
With the 230 US gal (870.6 l) fuel tanks full, the available payload for crew, passengers and baggage is 160 lb (73 kg), down from a projected 720 lb (327 kg). This means that the A500 cannot carry full fuel and one standard weight adult male or female pilot.
Adam Aircraft had intended to address the lack of useful load by demonstrating that the current 30 US gal (113.6 l) of unusable fuel is actually 10 US gal (37.9 l). This would have increased the useful load by 120 lb (54.4 kg) and allowed a full fuel crew weight of 280 lb (127 kg).
In April 2011 Triton Aerospace, the new holder of the type certificate, indicated that they will redesign the aircraft, using what Thomas Hsueh, owner of Triton Aerospace termed "proper engineering", to shed 1000 lb (454 kg) of empty weight and recertify it with the intention of putting it back into production.
Support and aircraft type club formation
The five A500s in private service have run into problems obtaining parts and at least one was reported as grounded due to parts issues in August 2008.The aircraft owners organized an aircraft type club
Aircraft type club
Aircraft type clubs are organizations that provide information and support to a single aircraft type or a group of aircraft types from the same manufacturer or family of aircraft....
, the A500 Owners Association, with the goal of convincing the new owners of the design at that time, AAI Acquisitions to provide parts support for the existing aircraft.
AAI's head of customer support, Jan D'Angelo, responded in August 2008, saying: