Found Aircraft making slow, steady progress.

Small aircraft manufacturers like Found Aircraft are indeed rare birds.

But a combination of world events, slow government certification and regulation processes, escalating fuel prices and the growing trend of build-your-own plane kits hasn't been kind to most sectors of the aviation industry.

After nine years in business, the 75-employee Parry Sound bush plane manufacturer is establishing itself and making its mark with a growing global dealership network.

As the winners of a 2004 Ontario Regional Global Traders Award, the innovative company rolls out one Bush Hawk-XP aircraft per month from their assembly hangar at the Parry Sound Municipal Airport, with an eye on completing 15 to 20 planes this year.

Their biggest customer remains the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, particularly in Alaska, and the company is hopeful of good news ahead now that Found is an approved vendor for the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary for civil air patrol and rescue work.

"We're anticipating hopefully an order coming this year," says Andrew Hamblin, Found's director of marketing.

Established in Parry Sound in 1997, the bush plane maker has enjoyed some peaks and endured some deep valleys in recent years, starting with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that affected many in the industry. That down cycle was exacerbated by cutbacks at Transport Canada, which delayed certification on many parts and options.

The summer layoffs three years ago, which cut nearly 80 per cent of their workforce, was due to those certification backlogs.

"Basically paperwork sitting on a desk. We couldn't do anything, we were handcuffed."

Hamblin says after Sept. 11 2001, Transport Canada and the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) were inundated with work, certifying crew cabin doors for the large aircraft builders. It left small builders not named Bombardier on the back burner.

Their challenges include high fuel prices and a skyrocketing Canadian dollar, since about 80 per cent of the company's export sales are outside Canada, to the U.S., Caribbean and South Pacific.

Hamblin says the Iraq War is doing them no favours either, with many U.S. government department budgets being slashed for more military and security spending.

"We're black and blue, but still trucking."

Hamblin says the last three new aircraft companies to come onto the North American market have either gone bankrupt or been bought out.

The extensive and expensive certification process on design and parts makes it prohibitive to stay in business for very long. To certify an aircraft today can cost as much as $80 million, making it necessary to move 500 to 1,000 units out the door immediately to make that money back.

But the Bush Hawk-XP has carved a special niche on its own.

The design dates back to the 1960s as the brainchild of Nathan "Bud" Found. The aircraft was brought back into production by popular demand by now-company president Tony Hamblin, who located the company to Parry Sound. With modifications, the plane has received good pilot reviews in the North American aviation press as a rugged, dependable and versatile aircraft.

With no new de Havilland Beavers or Otters having rolled off the assembly lines in many years, some Canadian companies have taken to rebuilding these legendary bush planes. But Hamblin says he really doesn't see any competition for the type of bush plane they produce since it uses less than half the fuel of those older models.

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Hamblin says every successive year that aircraft get older and operators search for more fuel efficient engines only works in Found's favour.

"The economics for this aircraft (Bush Hawk) are pretty strong because the price differences are pretty close for purchasing a rebuilt Beaver and one of our aircraft. It's much more of an economical issue.

"We've been marketing this for five and six years and the people know we're around. It's been a really grass-roots type of marketing that's finally seeping through."

The company has gone from shipping factory-direct product to utilizing their dealer networks. There's a three-month backlog on orders, but Hamblin says there's been more consistent flow-through in rolling out aircraft.

With three dealers in place, they expect to double that number by year's end.

The company is poised to sign a dealership in Asia and looking to expand in Africa by year's end. They already have a dealer in Nadi, Fiji Islands serving the Australia-New Zealand-South Pacific market.

A western U.S. dealer is situated in Boise, Idaho and they recently established a dealer in Anchorage, Alaska, their largest market.

www.foundair.com

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business