Tiger Aircraft LLC was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1999 to 2006 based in
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 18,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making Martinsburg the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia a ...
, United States.
History
The company was established in 1999 with the aim of returning the
AG-5B Tiger to production. Tiger Aircraft followed in the footsteps of
Grumman American,
Gulfstream American and
American General Aviation Corporation in manufacturing the Tiger.
Tiger Aircraft had ceased operations by November 2006 and filed for bankruptcy in January 2007.
[January 21, 2007 ''$1 Million Debt Too Much For Aircraft Manufacturer?'' By Russ Niles, Contributing Editor](_blank)
/ref>
Financial difficulties
Tiger Aircraft was headed by President and Chief Operating Officer N. Gene Criss between August 25, 2003, and early August 2006. Criss was fired by the board for allegedly selling the assets of the company to Network Hosts without authority. The four companies that owned Tiger Aircraft applied to a West Virginia Circuit Court at that time for a restraining order to prevent further sales and also to declare the previous deals invalid.
By the middle of 2006, Tiger Aircraft was experiencing financial problems, production of AG-5Bs had been halted, and production workers had been laid off. By November 2006, the company employed only two workers and owed $115,000 in back taxes to the municipality. On November 30, 2006, it was announced that the Tiger Aircraft buildings were for sale. Tiger Aircraft filed for bankruptcy in January 2007.
Products
Tiger Aircraft received FAA Part 23 certification for the AG-5B in 2001 and its production certificate in 2002. 51 AG-5B Tigers were produced between 2001 and 2006, with only three being completed in 2006.[Manufacturer: "Tiger," Model: "AG-5B,"](_blank)
''FAA Aircraft Registry Database,'' Federal Aviation Administration, as retrieved 4 Dec. 2014, noting "48" total aircraft of that make and model registered currently in the United States (not counting foreign registry or deregistered aircraft).
Asset acquisition by True Flight Aerospace
The Federal Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of Tiger Aircraft assets to True Flight Holdings LLC, now operating as True Flight Aerospace, on August 2, 2007. The assets included aircraft type certificates for the former Grumman American light aircraft AA-1 family and AA-5 family, tooling, aircraft building equipment, intellectual property rights, inventories of existing parts and raw materials.
In November 2007, True Flight announced plans to construct a new production facility at the local airport of Valdosta, Georgia
Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, ...
, and commence production of parts first.
The company exhibited at Sun 'n Fun
Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...
2008 and indicated that it would produce the AG-5B Tiger first. The company indicated that it would later expand the line of aircraft models available.American Yankee Association Homepage lead story accessed 19 September 2007
/ref> The new Valdosta facility was to have been opened in February 2008.
In early 2009, the company decided to move to an existing vacant production facility in Quitman, Georgia
Quitman is a city in and the county seat of Brooks County, Georgia, Brooks County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 4,064 in 2020. The Quitman Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...
, rather than proceed with constructing new facilities at Valdosta. This decision was prompted by the ongoing economic situation, delays imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
(FAA) as part of a runway extension at Valdosta and an attractive offer to relocate from the Quitman municipal government. At Sun 'n Fun 2009 in April the company announced that it expected to start production of AG-5Bs by mid-summer 2009. True Flight exhibited at AirVenture
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...
2009 in July. At Sun 'n Fun in April 2010 the company gave an update on progress, although production had still not commenced at that time.
In July 2012, True Flight Aerospace again exhibited at AirVenture as part of the State of Georgia's Center for Innovation in Aerospace. Production of new aircraft had not yet commenced.
As of December 2021, True Flight Aerospace, in spite of more than ten years of promises, had not produced a single aircraft.
Aircraft by date
* Tiger Aircraft AG-5B Tiger (2001)
References
External links
www.tigeraircraft.com
Former location of Tiger Aircraft Corporate website
* on Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
True Flight Aerospace
True Flight Aerospace website archives
on Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{American Aviation
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States