Commuter Craft is ready to welcome the first builders of the company’s two-place homebuilt Innovator to Commuter’s Cartersville, Georgia, factory to begin construction. The planes will be built at the factory where the company says it will take two to three weeks for owners to complete their 51 percent of the aircraft with the plane ready to fly in three months. Commuter Craft founder and president Richard Hogan told AVweb more about the aircraft and the building process in this podcast interview at AirVenture 2018.
Hogan says that first group of builders have all had experience building aircraft before. These “Alpha Builders” have been chosen to vet Commuter Craft’s Builder Assist Program in addition to putting together new airplanes. Once those planes are finished, the company will tweak the program if needed and then bring in a group made up of both new and experienced builders for a second round. General production is scheduled to begin next year.
The Innovator is a composite design with options that include folding wings, a ballistic parachute and seatbelt airbags. The engine options are both Continental Titan models—either the 180-HP IO-340 or the 200-HP IO-370. The 200-HP version has an 850-pound useful load, range of 940 miles and is expected to cruise at an estimated 194 MPH. Pricing runs from approximately $150,000 to $210,000.
