Quicksilver Aeronautics has been informed by FAA that its audit to produce the Sport 2S model as a Special Light-Sport Aircraft has been satisfactorily concluded. The model will officially be known as the Sport L-S2S and marketed as the Sport S2SE.
“We are very pleased about this accomplishment,” said Quicksilver Aeronautics President Will Escutia. “Daniel Perez, our chief of operations, did an outstanding job leading the team to this goal.”
The company also retained an outside engineering firm, Streamline Design, which is a leading expert on the ASTM industry consensus standards that are used to gain FAA acceptance.
For retail buyers and company dealers, the Sport 2S model now approved to be fully manufactured will be called S2SE to be in line with the company’s Fly-and-Enjoy concept for fully assembled planes and to differentiate it from the experimental kits the company will continue to manufacture and market. Other SLSA models are also in progress.
As the company begins manufacturing of the Sport S2SE, Quicksilver has embarked on a new method for the LSA industry.
According to Light-Sport Aircraft regulations, a manufacturer such as Quicksilver Aeronautics may create “extensions,” which are manufacturing locations other than the headquarters factory. A manufacturer is charged with maintaining full quality control over these extensions but such remote operations put manufacturing much closer to customers. While any LSA manufacturer can pursue this method no other company has yet opened multiple extension facilities making Quicksilver a pioneer in this regard.
The two locations where full manufacturing of the S2SE besides the Temecula California factory are in Reserve, Louisiana ,at the St. John airport under the direction of longtime dealer Gene “Bever” Borne. Air-Tech Inc., will become an assembly center for Special LSA and will serve southern states in the Eastern half of the country. A second location will be in Rochester, Minnesota, under the direction of former sales manager, Todd Ellefson. The Minnesota-based extension will also be certified as an assembly center for the Sport 2S Special LSA in order to better serve customers in North-Central USA. Additional assembly centers are under consideration and will be established as demand requires, company officials said.
The Quicksilver Sport S2SE is offered at the retail price of $39,999. Amateur-built kits remain available at a lower cost as do kit LSA, known as Experimental LSA or ELSA.
For more information: QuicksilverAircraft.com
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