SPANISH FORK — More than a century after the Wright brothers' first flight, breakthroughs in aircraft development are still taking place. A pair of companies, including one in Utah, are proving it.
Rocky Mountain Composites Inc. of Spanish Fork and California-based Spectrum Aeronautical LLC are partnering on the Spectrum 33, a craft that looks like a lot of today's sleek, light business jets. But RMC's contribution is only skin-deep.
The Spectrum 33's composite-fiber skin, produced by RMC, is a first-of-its-type lightweight, super-strong exoskeleton that sets the craft apart from its brethren, such as the Cessna CJ2.
Oh, it may look a bit like the CJ2, but it's what can't be seen that makes it special. The Spectrum is an all-composite craft, the first ever to have its fuselage made from a single piece of composite material, RMC's proprietary FibeX. Ditto for the one-piece wing. Composites also are used for control surfaces, landing gear struts and other parts.
"There are some carbon-fiber airplanes and lots of carbon-fiber parts out there, but we do it in one piece," James Winegar, in charge of RMC's marketing, said of the fuselage and wing elements. "That's what's different."
While the price tag of $3.65 million will be attractive to many pilots, and the lack of corrosion will significantly lower maintenance and "down time" costs, the Spectrum 33's hallmark is its light weight, which means one thing: big bucks in fuel savings. The company figures the plane will be able to complete a 1,000-mile flight using 40 percent to 50 percent less fuel than its nearest competitor.
"The Cessna CJ2's gross takeoff weight is 12,385 pounds with eight passengers and fuel," Winegar said. "The Spectrum 33's is 7,300 pounds. That translates into a savings of operating costs.
"We're not trying to be the fastest. We're fast, and we can operate at 45,000 feet — that's above all the traffic and where the airliners can be — and it goes about 460 mph. And when we get it outfitted and trimmed out with the plush interiors, it's going to be a thing of beauty."
While only in the prototype stage, the Spectrum holds promise for its breakthrough use of composites, which also are referred to as carbon-graphite or fiber-epoxy materials. RMC and Spectrum are banking on it being better than aluminum airframes and existing composite techniques.
RMC's FibeX is light, durable and, in composite terms, simple. A combination of carbon and resin, a thin layer of FibeX yields amazing strength. Adding ribs in strategic patterns works to distribute loads through a given structure, boosting the overall strength without adding much weight. The composite wings and fuselage each will weigh a mere 330 pounds.
"It's pretty forward-thinking, and a lot of traditional people have some prejudice about making structures that are too large that are not metal and you have to build it from the inside out," Winegar said.
The prototype craft, also referred to as a "proof of concept" craft, has taken to the skies several times. Flying almost daily, the Spectrum 33 is undergoing testing and tweaking through the use of experienced test pilots and under the close monitoring of camcorders and laptop computers sucking in loads of information. Eventually the companies will build production-conforming flight-test aircraft that will be used in Federal Aviation Administration certification testing.
But while the prototype has not ventured far from Spanish Fork since its wheels first left the ground on Jan. 7, the path to its current situation has been more than two decades long. Although the Spectrum 33 became a specific model in 1998, the principals of the two companies began working on the technologies used in the craft long ago.
Larry Ashton, RMC's chairman and chief scientist, and Linden Blue, chief executive officer of Spectrum, began working together in 1983 to figure out a new way to manufacture advanced composite aircraft structures. They worked for different companies at the time — Blue is a former CEO and president of Beechcraft — but now their companies are linked as solidly as the carbon fiber and resin in FibeX. Privately held Spectrum owns 51 percent of RMC. Spectrum is in charge of the craft's guts; RMC is responsible for the structures.
That's all been a secret, until recently. While many companies trumpet their accomplishments even before attaining them, RMC and Spectrum have kept the wraps on their revolutionary aircraft tighter than FibeX's carbon fibers. The Spectrum 33 was unveiled only a few months ago, during the National Business Aircraft Association convention. The first flight Jan. 7 was a private affair, although astronaut Neil Armstrong was among the dignitaries to witness the companies' "giant leap" from Spanish Fork to Provo.
Still more big steps lie ahead. The craft must pass muster with the FAA, and the current timetable calls for that to be completed in late 2007 and 2008.
"We've got a very, very tight schedule to make all the structures that have to go through physical tests, compression tests, and actually they take a whole airframe and destroy it to see how much damage it can take, and all the subsequent structures that are made are taken up to the ultimate limit load and they have to pass that as part of the certification," Winegar said.
"We know what we have to do, but we don't know what the potholes in the road are along the way. . . . It's risky. But Larry's been 45 years in the composites business, which helps him hedge his bet on risks."
Ashton, perhaps the most modest of a group of RMC folks ready to forgo praise by heaping it on others at the company, said knowledgeable visitors have been wowed by what RMC and Spectrum already have accomplished. But his experience works to remind him about the tasks ahead.
"It's scary. We've got a lot of work to do. It makes me weak in the knees," Ashton said.
"Jim is the ultimate optimist, but for those of us involved in the day-to-day, how-to-make-it-work kind of thing, it's scary. An airplane risks people's lives, so it's got to be done right, with the right combination of very light weight and very high reliability."
That's where FibeX comes in. It's the result of carbon fibers and engineered resin being brought together on specialized equipment. It can be applied directly to a part or cut into forms that can be placed in a mold. It's cured under pressure in an oven or autoclave.
A special characteristic of the RMC production method is that FibeX can be made in a more automated way than composites produced by other companies.
"The primary challenge here is to develop the manufacturing system and the structural material," said Mark Jones, vice president of business development for Spectrum and program manager at RMC. "The rest of the airplane is relatively conservative, relatively straightforward.
"Most new airplane programs begin with the design in mind, and then they search around for a way to build it. With us, it's been the other way around. The focus has been on the material systems and the manufacturing technology first, and then they said, 'Ah, this applies very nicely to an airplane, and that makes the whole process run much smoother.' "
And the result, he said, is "an airplane that is unlike any other machine that's ever been built, really."
RMC officials envision the Spectrum 33 taking off in the business sense as well as the literal sense. Over the next few months, their space at 301 W. 3000 North will grow from about 45,000 to more than 100,000 square feet, thanks to a new building expected to be finished by September or October. RMC's work force is expected to double from the current 60 by year-end.
"We think our production here, once we ramp up — it won't happen immediately — we think there's a potential for about 100 airplanes a year," Winegar said.
That not only will help the local economy, but will also provide a boost in Ogden, where Williams International makes the Spectrum's engines, and Fayette in Sanpete County, where Applied Composites Technology manufactures the carbon-fiber landing gear.
The Spectrum 33's potential uses include the obvious personal transportation of corporate types, but it also could be used as an air taxi or charter vehicle. Winegar envisions it reinvigorating regional airports, especially in the post-9/11 period when security issues make getting through commercial hubs a pain and the overall interest in general aviation is climbing.
While perhaps a lot of imagination is needed to see the full potential for the aircraft, Jones has no trouble doing so, reinforced by his experience helping several aircraft through to FAA certification. A flyover of RMC in a few years, he figures, will yield a much different view than one gets now.
"The strategy on this program has been very well thought-out," he said. "It's going to be a really phenomenal economic boon to this area, and I would be willing to bet if you come back in three or four years when we're really up and rolling, you won't recognize the area. It will have that much of an impact."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com