type private industry aerospace fate shut down by owner founded 1998 defunct 2009 headquarters arapahoe county colorado key people george f. adam jr. and john c. knudsen founders products aircraft adam a500 adam a700 number of employees 30 2008 1 website www.adamaircraft.com archived adam aircraft industries aai 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 company certified and produced the inline piston twin engined adam a500 while the turbofan powered adam a700 adamjet was under development . the a700 was intended to be an entrant into the niche of very light jets vljs but its development was ceased before production was achieved . one of the first adam a500s manufactured a500 s n 0002 was featured in the 2006 michael mann film miami vice . in conjunction with partners the company had won a major contract from defense advanced research projects agency darpa for the development of a next generation rotorcraft indicating possible longer term product development potential . however the firm ceased operations on 11 february 2008 2 and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on 15 february 2008 . 3 4 in april 2008 the assets of the former company were purchased from bankruptcy by aai acquisition inc. aai failed to restart adam aircraft and in april 2009 adam aircraft finally ceased operations and laid off all its staff . 5 6 in april 2011 triton aerospace announced that they had acquired the company s assets . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 financial problems and cessation of operations 1.2 aai acquisition 1.3 triton america 2 list of aircraft 3 references 4 external links history edit adam a500 prototype during its flight test program at the mojave spaceport adam a700 prototype financial problems and cessation of operations edit in january 2008 it was announced that adam aircraft was having problems raising the capital required to complete certification flight testing of the a700 jet and to enter full production of the a500 piston aircraft . as a result the company closed its ogden utah plant and laid off 300 workers . 8 adam aircraft president duncan koerbel was quoted as saying to provide for our future growth we must be strategic in our focus by managing current cash expenditures to ensure adequate time to secure financing for the long term . we re off to a good start in this effort with assistance from our partner citibank but we need to be able to provide them with sufficient time working with potential investors to secure long term financing . 8 the company indicated that it needed to raise between usd 75 and 150 million to produce the a500 and complete certification of the a700 . 8 in a 22 january 2008 letter to shareholders company ceo john wolf indicated that the company would face liquidation if it could not raise an additional usd 25m in the seven days that remained before the end of that month because the company had loans due and could not pay them without the additional funds . 9 on 11 february 2008 the company ceased operations issuing a short news release that it was due to the inability of the company to come to terms with their lender for funding necessary to maintain business operations . 2 on 14 february 2008 it was reported that employees of the company were optimistic that operations would be able to continue under new financing . at the same time aviation anonymous industry leaders interviewed by the aviation press expressed opinions that the company would not be saved and that there would be no choice but to have it liquidated . 10 this prediction turned out correct as the company filed for liquidation under chapter 7 on 15 february 2008 3 4 the government of the city of pueblo colorado demanded that usd 2m in financial incentives paid to firm be returned . as part of its agreement with the city adam aircraft had agreed to create 448 jobs but had only created 90 jobs almost all eliminated in the round of lay offs in january preceding closure . the city filed liens against adam aircraft s physical equipment to recover the money owed . 10 aai acquisition edit on april 11 2008 the united states bankruptcy court for the district of colorado approved the sale of the company for 10 million to aai acquisition inc an entity jointly controlled by russian firms industrial investors and kaskol . 11 industrial investors is a private equity management company with 3 billion in assets notably far east shipping company . according to their statement former colorado governor bill owens is a director of one of its companies . at the time of purchase aai vp dmitry shokhin said we plan to revive adam aircraft s operations including continuing the process of certification for the a700 jet . 5 industrial investments had reportedly ordered 75 a700s prior to adam aircraft s bankruptcy and restarted work on the a700 with 60 employees back at work by may 2008 . 12 according to a july 2008 statement by sergey generalov ceo and owner of industrial investors more than ten other companies had bid for the assets of bankrupt aai . prior to the tender the company made a deal with 50 adams engineers persuading them to stay with aai thus securing the winning bid . in addition to the us 10 million purchase price generalov expected to invest another us 150 million before the project would generate any return . 11 the new company confirmed at airventure 2008 that they would proceed with certification of the a700 and had indicated an initial forecast completion date in the first quarter of 2010 . the company also confirmed that they would not produce the a500 for the foreseeable future due to the global drop in demand for piston engined aircraft 13 citing the economic crisis of 2008 aai acquisition president and ceo jack braly announced on 28 october 2008 that a700 flight test and other development activity have been suspended . braly indicated that the company s investment team and board of directors were reviewing the economic and market conditions and would decide on a new schedule for certifying the a700 . 14 15 the company laid off 200 employees in october 2008 leaving 30 engineering staff at work . 1 in january 2009 the company announced it was seeking a new strategic partner to help it expand into new areas of business sub contract engineering and manufacturing for the aerospace and custom automotive industry projects that could make use of the company s expertise in composite design and manufacturing . the company said that it had not abandoned the a700 jet project . company vice president of business development steve patrick said based on our initial efforts we are building a viable business base for our engineering solutions and services while retaining the option to re launch the a700 business jet . 16 in april 2009 unable to find non aerospace work for its facilities new partners and out of operating capital aai acquisition closed adam aircraft and laid off the last of its staff . 6 triton america edit in july 2009 real estate developer thomas hsueh purchased the remaining tooling parts and intellectual property of adam aircraft from the russian investors . doing business as triton america llc in anacortes washington his company planned to redesign the a500 and a700 and return the aircraft to production at the port of skagit county skagit county washington . 17 18 in april 2011 triton aerospace of skagit regional airport in burlington washington announced that they had acquired the assets of adam aircraft . the company announced that it intended to return the a500 to production after re engineering it to lose 1 000 lb 454 kg of empty weight and recertifiying it . the aircraft will also be changed to a turboprop with twin engined and rear engined only versions . two new prototypes were 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 . triton indicated that they have no plans to produce the a700 jet . 7 19 20 list of aircraft edit adam m 309 carbonaero 2000 twin piston engine centerline thrust technology demonstrator aircraft built for adam aircraft by scaled composites adam a500 2002 twin piston engine centerline thrust six person aircraft . development of m 309 adam a700 adamjet 2003 twin turbofan engine six person 1 in optional belted lav aircraft with configuration similar to a500 references edit a b marsh alton k. october 2008 . credit crunch felt by ga manufacturers . archived from the original on 3 november 2008 . retrieved 2008 10 31 . a b niles russ february 2008 . adam aircraft suspends operations . archived from the original on 17 february 2008 . retrieved 2008 02 11 . a b experimental aircraft association february 2008 . time money run out for adam aircraft . retrieved 2008 02 26 . a b yamanouchi kelly february 2008 . adam aircraft files chapter 7 . denver post . archived from the original on 28 february 2008 . retrieved 2008 02 19 . a b niles russ april 2008 . court approves adam sale to russian backed firm . retrieved 2008 04 12 . a b thurber matt may 2009 . remnants of adam aircraft see final shutdown . retrieved 2009 05 01 . a b triton aerospace april 2011 . adam a500 push me pull me revive me . retrieved 19 april 2011 . a b c niles russ january 2008 . adam lays off 300 . retrieved 2008 01 18 . niles russ january 2008 . adam needs an immediate 25 million . archived from the original on 24 january 2008 . retrieved 2008 01 24 . a b avweb staff february 2008 . adam employees hopeful industry less so . archived from the original on 17 february 2008 . retrieved 2008 02 14 . a b rusiaeva polina july 2008 . life after death . archived from the original on 1 august 2008 . retrieved 2008 08 01 . niles russ may 2008 . adam aircraft reported back in business . retrieved 2008 07 15 . avweb editorial staff august 2008 . avwebflash complete issue volume 14 number 31e . archived from the original on 5 august 2008 . retrieved 2008 08 01 . niles russ october 2008 . a700 certification shelved . retrieved 2008 10 30 . aai acquisition october 2008 . aai acquisition president and ceo jack braly announces strategic realignment . archived from the original on 11 december 2008 . retrieved 2008 10 30 . mcmillin molly wichita eagle february 2009 . aai acquisition looking for strategic partner . retrieved 2009 02 05 . burnside joseph e. jeb july 2009 . adam a500 push me pull me revive me . retrieved 2009 07 29 . pipkin whitney november 2009 . company diversifies and grows . retrieved 2010 02 07 . marsh alton k. april 2011 . adam a500 aircraft to rise again . aircraft owners and pilots association . archived from the original on 15 may 2011 . retrieved 22 april 2011 . niles russ april 2011 . new adam 500 in the works . avweb . retrieved 20 april 2011 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to adam aircraft industries . companies portal adam aircraft website archives on archive.org patents owned by adam aircraft industries permanent dead link darpa rotorcraft award chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee triton aerospace v t e aircraft produced by adam aircraft industries m 309 a500 a700 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title adam aircraft industries