ADVANCED AERODYNAMICS AND STRUCTURES INC. (AASI)
The Company was publicly traded as of December 1996 and was founded in 1990
to manufacture light propjet and twinjet aircraft. AASI is organized to
design, develop, FAA certify, manufacture and market executive and
government new century propjet and twinjet aircraft for all attractive
segments of global aviation.
Jetcruzer
500–The Jetcruzer 500 is
essentially a pressurized version of AASI’s Jetcruzer 450, which was
certified in June 1994. The company has been struggling for several years
with financing and certification issues in trying to get its six-place
Jetcruzer 500 single-turboprop pusher certified and into production.
Earlier this year AASI backed out of a deal that would have placed about
70 percent of its stock with Tiwenz Group, a Chinese-based multimedia
company. Tiwenz’s Monterey, Calif. office telephones have since been
disconnected and its stock ticker symbol is no longer listed on the
over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB).
In March the Nasdaq delisted AASI’s stock after it had failed to meet the
exchange’s liberal listing requirements, which include a stock price
higher than $1. AASI is now listed on the OTCBB. Certification of the
Jetcruzer 500 has been nearly a continuous moving target for the last few
years, as delays caused by design problems and funding shortfalls have
accumulated. Most recent estimates by the company extend possible
certification and first deliveries to the middle of next year.
AASI in late July announced that it had received five ship sets of landing
gear parts for the Jetcruzer 500. The landing gear components are in
various quality checking and assembly stages. According to the company,
one set of landing gear is expected to be ready soon for FAA certification
drop tests at AASI’s Long Beach, Calif. facility. The other four are being
prepared for installation on flight-test and customer aircraft, according
to the company.
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