Independence Aviation Signs “Sun Flyer” Deposit Agreement

DENVER, Colorado - Independence Aviation (IA) has signed a Deposit Agreement with Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. (AEAC) for an early delivery position on a "Sun Flyer" solar-electric training system being developed by AEAC.

Bob Stedman, President/CEO of IA, said the management of IA has been extremely concerned about the rapidly rising cost of learning to fly and the impact on the aviation industry. "We applaud the efforts of other companies that are working on giving re-birth to Cessna 152s and 172s, and consider those to be important efforts on their part," he said. "However, even rebuilding those venerable trainers doesn't have the impact on training and experience costs that needs to happen. Only the new solar-electric Sun Flyer fully addresses those concerns. IA has great faith in looking at the industry differently, whether it is how personal airplanes are used or how we train today's pilots. We believe the Sun Flyer is a true game-changer for our industry."

George Bye, CEO of AEAC, thanked IA and welcomed them to the program. "We are especially pleased to work together with a local, advanced training school," he said. "IA is also based out of Centennial Airport, and we are discussing potential ways our companies can achieve future collaboration benefiting from our close proximity." AEAC is planning to offer the first certified U.S.-sponsored, practical, all-electric airplane serving the aviation training markets.

The company unveiled the single-seat technology demonstrator for its next-generation solar-electric training aircraft and continues to perform initial R&D flight test operations while the first 2-seat prototype Sun Flyer is being assembled. AEAC is licensing technology from PC-Aero and collaborating with Redbird Flight Simulations to offer a comprehensive pilot training system.