The new owner of the Vantage light business jet programme may switch from a single- to a twin-engined design.
Matt Eller, who last month acquired the intellectual property of former Vantage owner VisionAire for $441,000, is evaluating a design review compiled by Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites and will make a decision soon. Eller, an Ames, Iowa-based property developer, says the design changes should not hamper the programme's timing considerably nor should they result in a significant increase in the development and acquisition costs of the Vantage, now priced at $2-2.5 million.
"Our aim is to get the Eviation Vantage to market in three years," Eller says.
Eller is in talks with Scaled Composites to complete the aircraft's design and has appointed Vantage designer Burt Rutan and former VisionAire engineers Tom Stark and Don Spencer as consultants. "I am also keen to get Germany's Grob-Werke on board to build and certify the [composite] aircraft," he says.
Eller says the programme will be funded through private investment and the total development cost will be "way below" the $120 million forecast by VisionAire.
Source: Flight International
