A700 #4 in First Flight

Adam Aircraft announced the first flight of A700 Serial Number 004, the second conforming aircraft which will be used for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight-testing. The successful 1.3 hour first flight occurred Friday, August 24, 2007 out of Centennial Airport (KAPA), Englewood, Colorado. According to flight crew Pilot in Command Jim Jones and David Hayes, Second in Command, "The aircraft flew very well and demonstrated excellent controllability and handling."
"The A700 Type Certificate is one of the two most important objectives for the entire company," said Adam Aircraft Chairman and CEO John Wolf. "Jet 4's first flight and its entry into the flight test program is a major step toward that objective. Our second objective, Make Production Fly, will help us ensure we are ready to produce the A700 in high volume once the aircraft is certified."
“Jet 4 joins Jet 3, which first flew just over four months ago,” said Tom Bisges, Senior VP Engineering for Adam Aircraft. “Jet 4 will focus on power plant and systems work including flight into known icing. The flight test program has already racked up over 1,000 hours of flight testing and demonstrated very predictable flying qualities and performance. Jet 4 accelerates the flight tests. This is another significant milestone in the effort of certifying the A700."

New Interior, Customer Support Network for Adam Aircraft
Adam Aircraft unveiled the new innovative A700 interior during NBAA and outlined its new customer support. The new design, created by Adam Aircraft and Infusion Design, was built by PCI NewCo, a DeCrane Aerospace company.
"This new state-of-the-art interior focuses on specific elements that our customers wanted and we have delivered," said Duncan Koerbel, president of Adam Aircraft. "We are proud to introduce such unique elements as the individual table design that has been integrated into the cabin styling concept from the onset. This Swivel Wing™ design provides each club seat occupant their own table for a comfortable independent work space. We have also developed an innovative aft partition for the private lav located under the extra wide limo-style seat. This fifth passenger seat will be belted and approved for takeoff and landing which further enhances the overall value of our VLJ."
Infusion Design, an industrial creative design firm and the Adam Aircraft engineers created the innovative new interior which includes numerous improvements for best-in-class performance and style: reclining leather seats that fold down for ease of passage and for storage, ergonomically sculpted seat cushions, generous in flight baggage storage, 110V outlets, and XM Radio.
The A700 VLJ, currently undergoing flight test and development, will carry seven people and feature the best people-to-price performance ratio of any VLJ, said the company. Adam Aircraft headquarters are based at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colo., with additional facilities in Pueblo, Colo., and Ogden, Utah.
Adam Aircraft continues to see a strong future with a healthy backlog for its composite aircraft and plans to produce over 1,000 aircraft in next decade. Adam Aircraft Chairman and CEO John Wolf and President Duncan Koerbel recapped the latest progress and detailed the initiatives in place for production and customer support.
"Under the company's new Make Production Fly (MPF) program, the A500 [the company’s twin turboprop] design is maturing with a focus on an efficient, high quality production line with short span times. This is a conscious decision to move from a world class development company to a world class production company," said Wolf. "We are on target to increase production of the A500 to a rate of three per month and to transition the A700 into full rate production following type certification.
"We will certify a clean full up aircraft with no provisions,” he continued, addressing the A700 program. “We will also use our gained knowledge and experience from the A500 MPF processes and apply it to the similarities of the A700."
The Adam family of aircraft consists of 240 structural parts versus over 5,000 for traditional aluminum aircraft. The company has invested in a production process that takes less time to manufacture each aircraft, resulting in less inventory, less factory space, and less tooling.
The company is also developing a targeted customer support network strategy that will set the standard for the VLJ marketplace. "We have engaged our customers in the process and we are responding to their needs,” said Koerbel. “By working with the best service oriented companies, we will develop a network of support that compliments our innovative products."