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Advanced Aero designs innovative, efficient, light sport aircraft

by Kathy Hagood
Brevard Technical Journal

Advanced Aero in Melbourne already has more than 240 customers who’ve signed letters of intent to buy its innovative, inexpensive and fuel-efficient light sport aircraft.

The company is offering two models, a high-wing and a low-wing version of its patented inverted v-tail design. The total sales value for current orders is more than $12.6 million. New customers are coming on board at an average of three a week, according to the company.

Both models of the two-seat aircraft have an ultra modern design that looks like it could have come out of a NASA research center. Partly because of the beauty of the vehicle the company has seen ancillary interest in radio controlled miniature versions of it v-tailed design as well as interest in computerized flight simulations.
Now all Advance Aero must do is to complete prototype testing at the Melbourne International Airport while bringing investors onboard by November to have the funding to kick off manufacturing of its full-size versions. The one-seat prototype for the two-seat aircraft has already completed six hours of flight time.
The company currently is in negotiations to license its v-tail design for use in unmanned aerial vehicles, which would help finance the manufacture of its commercial product line.

“We’re hoping to start manufacturing our aircraft in the spring,” said Chris Gagliano, who designed both models of the v-tail wing aircraft and co-founded the company with his father, Joe. Both men are highly experienced aviators and the younger Gagliano has had a 20-year career in engineering and management in the aerospace industry.

Before co-founding the new company, Chris Gagliano served as certification and quality assurance manager for Liberty Aerospace in Melbourne. Now he has staked his personal finances on seeing the realization of his v-tail aircraft design. Like Howard Hughes as depicted in the recent Hollywood blockbuster The Aviator, Chris Gagliano is pushing the envelope on aircraft design.

“Sport aircraft tend to be based on technology that’s 40 years old. It’s tried and true, but inefficient,” Gagliano said. “Through modern computer simulations of wind tunnel tests, more innovative designs are possible.”

Advanced Aero expects that 60 percent of the manufacturing for the aircraft will be done in Melbourne. The company plans for an Austrian-based Bombardier plant to manufacture the engine.

Advanced Aero currently is offering its low-wing LSA-IVT Sport Cruiser for $55,000, and its high-wing LSA-IVT Sport Aero for $65,000. By comparison, Liberty Aerospace’s Liberty XL-2 sells for $139,000.
“We’re seeing buyers who own more expensive aircraft wanting to scale down their costs with our aircraft. At these prices, some buyers are ordering both the high-wing and low-wing versions,” Chris Gagliano said.
The two models were first introduced to the public at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in October 2004, at the Sebring Florida Regional Airport. A second tradeshow, Sun ‘n Fun 2005, held during April in Lakeland, brought in 42 orders during the show alone.

“We’re having no problems interesting customers in our inverted v-tail design, which we believe is going to revolutionize the industry,” Chris Gagliano said.

The new company is able to offer highly competitive pricing on what will be an Federal Aviation Administration certified aircraft because of new light sport aircraft rules adopted by the FAA on Sept. 1, 2004, he said.

The aircraft models were designed using the same computer simulation software used to design Burt Rutan’s highly praised SpaceshipOne suborbital aircraft.

Advanced Aero has completed a 75-page preliminary design report for the aircraft, which will be able to carry about 1,300 lbs. of passenger and cargo weight.

The new technology uses twin tail booms and triangulated stabilizers. The tail booms are considered safer on the ground and shield the rotating prop of the thruster engine. The configuration provides a stronger infrastructure for flight and the pusher engine reduces turbulence and noise and provides for better fuel economy, according the Advanced Aero.

The new company is a client of the Florida/NASA Business Incubation Center, which assists new technology companies get off the ground. The center, which features affordable office space and shared services, was created by the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) in 1996. The center is managed through a partnership of the TRDA and Brevard Community College.

What first sparked the quest for the new aircraft design was Joe Gagliano asking his son to design a sailplane that the elder Gagliano would be allowed to fly. Because of health problems, Joe Gagliano, a retired Air Force pilot, had lost his medical clearance from the FAA to fly larger motorized aircraft.

Chris Gagliano pondered his father’s needs and eventually came up with the idea for a light sport aircraft with a thrust engine and an inverted v-tail design. He submitted a patent application in 1997.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see the overwhelming interest in my design,” Gagliano said. “We’re successfully flying the prototype and tweaking it, now we just need to get manufacturing off the ground.”

For additional information, contact Joe Gagliano at 432-8648 or visit the Advanced Aero web site at www.invertedvtail.com