When you think of Brazil and airplanes, you automatically think of Embraer, but that aerospace giant isn’t the only player in the South American market. A number of smaller companies ply the aircraft trade and a couple of them are represented this week at Sun ‘n Fun by a trade delegation from the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Sergio Luiz Gargiani, president of an industrial trade board representing Santa Catarina, said Wednesday that the state is offering extensive incentives to attract aerospace industry to Brazil, including tax breaks and land grants. “We are just starting, but we have very good background, working in high technology companies, in software, in electronics so now we are moving into aircraft to put together these technologies,” Gargiani said in this podcast interview with AVweb on Wednesday.
To show off its prowess, the Brazilian group brought to Sun ‘n Fun a pair of slick composite two-place retractables from a company called Wega. The airplanes are powered by Superior’s XP-360 engine and are eventually intended as kits, although Wega appears to be quite some distance from actually shipping kits. A Wega representative told AVweb this week that the aircraft cruise at about 190 knots and have an empty weight of about 1100 pounds. Watch for an AVweb video on the kit airplanes later this week. The company also has a pair of new general aviation aircraft in the works, aimed at both the Brazilian and the export market, called NovAer Craft. Both are low-wing airplanes — the T-Xc, a two-place aerobatic trainer, and the U-Xc, a four-place pressurized version with retractable gear. They will be the first all-carbon-fiber aircraft built in Brazil, according to a company spokesman. Both airplanes are expected to be certified in about two and a half years.
