limited liability company industry aviation founded 1994 headquarters wichita falls texas key people jay carter ceo products experimental aircraft number of employees 13 1 website www.cartercopters.com carter aviation technologies also known as cartercopters is a privately held 2 aviation research and development company based in wichita falls texas united states . the main focus of the company is developing new technology and then licensing it to other manufacturers for use on production aircraft . 3 carter sees its role as predominantly that of research and development with the aim of then patenting 4 the aviation technological advances it makes . 5 6 the company is mainly known for making the cartercopter and since 2011 its replacement the carter personal air vehicle . contents 1 history 1.1 agreement with textron 1.2 agreement with municipality 2 technology 3 aircraft 4 notes and references 5 external links history edit the company cat was founded in 1994 2 by jay carter jr. two years after the partial sale of the wind turbine company carter wind systems 7 8 now being run by his son matt . 9 10 the company is developing the cartercopter slowed rotor compound sr c aircraft series the cartercopter propeller system 6 11 12 13 14 and a landing gear system . 6 13 15 according to carter the development of the propeller and landing gear was not strictly necessary and delayed the sr c. 16 the teetering blade hub principle used in carter wind systems is also used in carter aircraft . 16 until 2004 cat received some funding via three small business innovation research programs from nasa 17 18 totalling over 1million . 19 on 17 june 2005 the company s sole flying technology demonstrator reached a rotorcraft milestone but crashed on the next flight . the aircraft had been flying at 160 mph 257 km h when the drive pulley to the propeller drive shaft bolts failed in flight reversing propeller thrust . the aircraft was damaged beyond repair but both crew members were unharmed . the accident set the company s development back at least ten months as a small wingless autogyro was not flown until 2006 13 20 21 22 and the carter pav a subsequent 4 place manned compound rotorcraft the n110av was not flown until 2011 . 20 design of the pav was begun during 2005 . 23 24 carter says it has flown 186 kn 344 km h ; 214 mph at 18 000 feet 25 and reached a mu of 1.13 1 26 and carter has applied to the faa to change the pavs certificate from research and development to demonstration . 27 in 2007 the company modified their strategy from strictly 6 r & d to also include limited production as potential manufacturing customers were unfamiliar with the technology and would not commit to the large development effort of bringing the concept forward to a product . 28 cat paid 20 000 per year in lobbying expenses in 2005 and 2006 but none in 2009 and 2010 to monitor transportation defense budget technology issues appropriations . 29 30 in 2009 joe lieberman earmarked 2 500 000 to carter for slow rotor technologies . 31 among the board members is tilt rotor developer kenneth wernicke who engineered the bell xv 15 32 33 34 as did jay carter . 10 35 wernicke also worked on the bell xv 3 and v 22 osprey . 36 in october 2009 the company announced it was forming two subsidiaries carter aerospace development to continue with the research and development and carter air vehicles to manufacture the products . 37 jay carter says he has 58 % ownership of the company in june 2012 . 38 on 6 september 2013 darpa awarded 2 231 816 to carter for the development of a medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle prototype in the tern program tactically exploited reconnaissance node . 39 the goal is an aircraft capable of flying by itself from a small ship like lcs 2 with a payload of 600 pounds 270 kg out to an operational radius of 600 900 nautical miles 1 100 1 700 km . 40 carter views vehicle recovery in rough seas as a significant challenge 41 and tried unsuccessfully to partner with larger companies . 42 first flight of a tern demonstrator is expected in 2017 43 but if carter wins the final bid the order would be too big for them and a partner would have to build the many aircraft . 44 other phase 1 recipients include aerovironment 45 northrop grumman 46 aurora flight sciences and maritime applied physics . 41 aerovironment 47 and northrop grumman 48 proceeded to phase 2 . the paul e. haueter award of the american helicopter society for 2014 was presented to jay carter for his achievements in slowed rotor compound aircraft designs capable of providing unprecedented improvements in rotorcraft operational flexibility efficiency speed and safety . 49 as of 2014 update carter says they have started development of a turboprop aircraft powered by the 1 750shp honeywell tpe331 14 . 25 agreement with textron edit on 16 november 2009 the aai corporation a division of textron signed a 40 year exclusive license agreement 50 51 52 53 with the company concerning all unmanned aircraft systems one of which was intended to deliver 3000 pounds of cargo similar to the unmanned kaman k max but over a future range of 1300 nautical miles compared to the demonstrated 150 nautical miles 280 km or more of the k max . 54 55 aai expected this cargo aircraft to fly in 2011 . 56 the agreement committed cartercopters to developing the technology to maturity for 4 complete aircraft in 2011 56 in exchange for exclusive rights to develop uavs for the next 40 years . external images aai textron s transformer proposal company fabrication area mirror video from smithsonian channel aircraft fabrication video factory aai intended to use this technology in two modified shadow uavs 56 57 58 for flight in 2012 59 and as the basis for their proposal to darpas flying humvee transformer program . 56 60 61 62 63 darpa selected this team for phase 1 on 15 november 2010 lasting 15 months 64 but later only selected lockheed martin for the subsequent aerial reconfigurable embedded system ares program . aai also expected to use the sr c technology for the shadow knight a powered rotor two propeller surveillance aircraft for the us navy 65 66 67 68 mrmuas program that was cancelled in 2012 to save 1.5 billion . 69 70 if aai proposed an unmanned casualty evacuation aircraft it would also have been based on carter technology . 71 in 2014 carter said they bought back the license from aai 72 and is seeking production partners outside usa . 25 73 agreement with municipality edit on 6 october 2009 74 final agreement 14 april 2010 75 carter signed a 7 year 76 agreement with the wichita falls economic development corporation wfedc . the agreement provided carter with a us 4m segmented loan sourced from 4a sales tax for use as operating capital to allow increased development activity and company expansion matching some of the aai funding . 77 the loan was provided at a zero percent interest rate with a delayed re payment period and also includes a forgiveness clause in exchange for new job creation 74 78 79 of 300 manufacturing jobs . the total investment by aai and wfedc was up to 12million . 80 according to the agreement wichita falls provided a 25 000 square foot 2 300 m2 building for cat around the time of first flight . the 4m was to be paid in 8 segments depending on milestones achieved not necessarily in order pav flight without wings first firm order pav flight with wings second firm order flight tests of second pav hiring of a number of new employees the agreement defines a successful flight as 30 minutes or more . 74 carter has received the first downpayment of a prototype qualifying cat for a loan payment from the city 81 and as of 31 august 2010 the amount paid by the wfedc to cat was 468 750 . 82 according to jay carter these milestones are related to requirements from aai . carter also conformed that cat has been in business for 16 years and never sold a product . 83 84 first flight of the pav occurred on 5 january 2011 and lasted 36 minutes qualifying cat for another milestone payment . 85 86 as of 18 august 2011 the amount paid by the wfedc to cat was 937 500 . 87 in june 2011 the company moved from its initial 3 600 sq ft 330 m2 buildings to a 20 000 sq ft 1 900 m2 facility with financial assistance from the city of wichita falls . 76 88 aai has provided 7.5 m for license and prototype while wfedc has made 6 of 8 progress payments by june 2012 . 89 the original milestones proved difficult and aai switched to progress payments instead . 77 90 during 2012 carter reduced the workforce from about 37 2 76 90 due to lack of funds 91 92 and the number of employees came to 13 in 2013 1 and 5 in 2014 . 93 wfedc agreed to a carter proposal of changing the finance agreement to match the aai progress method in order to continue operations . wfedc would provide two loan payments almost 1million in exchange for carter stock and intellectual property and carter offers assets they estimate at 2.4 2.7 million as collateral for the loan . 38 77 94 however in august 2012 carter offered all of the 2.7 million of hard assets and refused transfer of intellectual property to the city as that would limit the company s ability to raise money . the wfedc approved the agreement 89 after lengthy discussion 91 but if loan repayments are not commenced 4 years after signage 74 wfedc could consider the agreement to be in default . 89 in june 2014 wfedc agreed to a two year extension 44 95 96 which needed approval from the city council also . 97 as of late 2015 the combined loan of 3.3 million was not paid back . 93 as of june 2013 7 out of 8 milestones had been met carter viewed the last milestone of 50 employees as unlikely to be fulfilled 97 98 but later maintained the hope of achieving that goal . 1 93 carter demonstrated their second pav the n210av at sun n fun air festival and macdill air force base in 2014 both in florida . 99 in july 2014 it was displayed at oshkosh airshow . carter says it has flown 186 kn 344 km h ; 214 mph at 18 000 feet . 25 technology edit main article cartercopter concept the primary technology of the company is the slowed rotor compound sr c cartercopter concept . a compound rotorcraft uses both wings and a rotor for lift . the wings support the aircraft when airspeed is high enough . slowed rotor indicates that the rotor is then slowed down in high speed flight to reduce drag . heavy tip weights made of lead tungsten or steel are used to make jump takeoffs and keep the slowed rotor stable . 100 101 the cartercopter technology demonstrator was the first aircraft to achieve 1 mu 1 on 17 june 2005 . 102 1 is an aerodynamic limit defined by a forward speed and rotor rpm combination that results in advancing moving into the relative wind blade tips reaching speeds of twice that of the aircraft . at the same time the retreating blade tips experience zero airspeed as they rotate away from the relative wind on the opposite side the entire inboard portion of the blade sees reverse air flow . 103 aircraft