A small Chinese mining company is making a $20-million bid to buy a dominant stake in a bankrupt French maker of a novel private airplane that can land on water and snow.
One remarkable aspect of the proposed purchase — which must be approved by the French bankruptcy court — is that buyer Leshan Heima Mining is a small private firm founded in 2008 with just 530,000 yuan ($85,000) in initial capitalization.
The other remarkable aspect is the novel plane being produced by Lisa Airplanes, the bankrupt French firm. The Lisa Akoya (named after a species of pearl oyster) is a two-seater light sport plane that can land on water and snow as well as conventional landing strips without structural modification. Its unusual radish-shaped fuselage is nearly spherical at its widest point, allowing the two seats to be arranged side-by-side.
The plane is 22 feet 8 inches long in flight with a wingspan of 36 feet 1 inch. It cruises at 130 mph and has a top speed of 180 mph. Thanks to its large wing area — as well as small canard wings that double as hydrofoils for water landings and skids for snow landings — the stall speed is a remarkably low 40 mph, improving the plane’s safety factor for recreational pilots.
Another feature that makes the Akoya unique is a main wing that folds through a horizontal rotation of almost 90° for transportation and compact storage. Its single engine is mounted high on the parallel chord suface formed by the rudder and tail fins.
Its empty weight of just 661 pounds is achieved by using carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composites for the structural components. Its maximum takeoff weight is 1,213 pounds, barely enough to hold two large adults and 18.5 gallons of fuel.
Lisa Airplanes was established in 2003 but the Aokya’s first flight didn’t take place until July 2012, the same month the company was placed in receivership after its existing investors declined to provide further operating capital.
Lisa hoped to introduce the Akoya in the European and US markets in 2014. So far it has booked 10 orders for the $350,000 plane.
Lisa’s new owners are hoping the company can participate in the spectacular growth expected in China’s general aviation sector. From only a few hundred private planes today, China is projected to have over 2,000 planes by 2015, creating an annual market value of 150 billion yuan ($24 billion), according to the government’s 12th five-year development plan.
