KATE SARSFIELD / LONDON
Archedyne is taking legal action over the failed purchase of fellow amphibian manufacturer Lake Aircraft but says it will continue developing the NauticAir 450
Archedyne Aerospace is continuing development of its NauticAir 450 personal seaplane, despite the collapse last year of its purchase of US amphibious aircraft manufacturer, Lake Aircraft.
A dispute over the sale of the company has resulted in Archedyne filing a court action against Lake Aircraft and its owner Armand Rivard, on grounds of conspiracy to defraud.
Archedyne says: "Rivard represented, among other things: that there were several pending orders and aircraft sold to the government of Malaysia; that the company has no outstanding judgements or lawsuits against it; that there were standing orders for a number of new aircraft; that customer satisfaction was high and that Lake Aircraft owners maintained a good relationship with the company. These representations turned out to be completely false."
The start-up aircraft manufacturer says the acquisition of Lake Aircraft would have provided essential personnel, material, experience and brand identity in order for it "to wrap up production more quickly than would usually have been the case". Archedyne is seeking more than $20,000 damages and the return by Lake Aircraft of its $500,000 initial down payment.
Kissimmee, Florida-based Lake Aircraft, which builds the Seawolf, Renegade and Seafury multimission piston singles, claims, however, that Archedyne's withdrawal from the sale was due to a lack of financing. Rivard says: "We are still selling the company, talking to about three potential buyers which have completed due diligence on the company."
Rivard claims Lake has a "contingency of military orders", but will not reveal the customer. "We will also begin a run of civil aircraft orders for individual customers beginning in August," he adds.
Merritt Island, Florida-based Archedyne says it has enough funds to proceed with development of the eight-seat Williams FJ44-2-powered NauticAir 450 programme, but that it will seek more investment, estimated at around $225 million, once the court action has been resolved. It says: "The aircraft is still in the design phase but we are hoping to have a prototype flying in 2003."
Source: Flight International
