Glasair Aviation USA, LLC is a Chinese-owned

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology indust ...

based in

Arlington, Washington Arlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city lies on the Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, adjacent to the city of Marysville. It i ...

that produces the Glasair and Sportsman 2+2 line of

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

. More than 3000 Glasair kits have been delivered worldwide.

History

Tom Hamilton began flight testing the Glasair TD and founded

Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, based in Arlington, Washington, was a designer and supplier of high-performance homebuilt aircraft kits, offering parts and plans to homebuilders. The company's popular ''Glasair'' aircraft series are low wing, two- ...

in 1979. Glasair Aviation was formed in 2001 when Thomas W. Wathen purchased the Glasair assets from bankrupt Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, Inc. and signed an agreement with Arlington Aircraft Development, Inc. (AADI) to buy all rights to and assets of the GlaStar model. In July 2012 the company was sold to the Jilin Hanxing Group, which formed a new company Glasair Aircraft USA, LLC. The company indicated that it intended to certify the Glastar design and otherwise retain production in Arlington, Washington. Its chairman said that purchasing Glasair was "the first step in a very long journey" and envisioned the company producing

trainers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

for flight schools and eventually personal aircraft for the Chinese market. Randy Lervold became the company CEO on 14 May 2019. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the company laid off its production and builder-assist staff, retaining ten employees for product support and engineering. It planned to take orders in 2021, and the company web sites states that it is taking limited orders for possible fulfilment in 2023.

Aircraft

References

External links

* {{Glasair aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Arlington, Washington Manufacturing companies established in 1979

History

Aircraft

See also

References

External links