Opus Aircraft, based in Rockingham County, N.C., will be sold at auction on Nov. 15, the Iron Horse Auction Co. has announced. Opus, which launched at Shiloh Airport in 2004, produces the ARC Super 2 light sport aircraft, an all-aluminum design based on a British airplane first produced in the 1980s. The auctioneer said it will accept sealed bids for the entire company, which has assets including one airworthy airplane, a second airplane that is “98 percent complete,” four partially completed airframes, all structural jigs, hundreds of thousands of spare parts, and “all drawings, plans, copyrights, patterns, accessories and equipment.” The minimum bid is $199,000, and the company will be sold as long as that minimum is met.
Iron Horse said the assets have an estimated value of $8 million; however, a recent offer to sell the company for $2.9 million found no takers. The news release from the auction house was picked up by media in China, Canada and Europe, according to a Google news search. In 2004, the company founders, Frank Auman Jr. and Tony Dawson, said they planned to hire 10 to 20 workers and build up to 50 airplanes a year.
