Skip to content

Parry Sound bush plane has Found its way (07/05)

By IAN ROSS The sky's the limit for a Parry Sound bush plane manufacturer as it sets to ramp up production this year while exploring new markets overseas.
By IAN ROSS

The sky's the limit for a Parry Sound bush plane manufacturer as it sets to ramp up production this year while exploring new markets overseas.

Orders are expected to keep rolling in at Found Aircraft, makers of the Bush Hawk-XP, a light utility aircraft that has captured the attention of bush flying aviation enthusiasts around the world.

The innovative company, which is the only Canadian-owned piston aircraft manufacturer, considers itself a market leader in every category of bush plane design.

Sales and marketing director Andrew Hamblin says Found has progressed past the stage of being an aircraft development company in the late 1990s to expanding into full production today.

Hamblin spent part of May in Alaska meeting with clients and attending a trade show, as the company pursues sales in an area considered fertile territory.

Since establishing the company in 1996, Found has sold nine aircraft to customers in Alaska, including four to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, its biggest customer, with future government orders anticipated.

"When their new annual budget comes in, we're expecting more sales."

Hamblin, whose father Tony is company president, says having the department as a major customer has been the best advertising they could hope for.

The extreme conditions under which the aircraft operates, Hamblin says, is validation to the vision company founder Nathan 'Bud' Found had years ago when he re-designed and returned to production his short-lived but well-regarded Bush Hawk FBA-2C1 model from the 1960s.

"It's impressive when the U.S. government is buying your aircraft for flying off of glaciers at 8,000 feet and landing on remote airstrips."

Hamblin says people in the industry have taken notice.

The Bush Hawk has been celebrated in the North American aviation press for its rugged and durable design. That design fills a much-needed market gap left open by the demise of bush plane production from De Havilland and Cessna.

This past spring, the 65-employee company, located at the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport, took home an Ontario government Regional Global Traders award for quadrupling their export sales.

Though the privately held company is reluctant to disclose sales and export figures, Found expects to increase production this year from 10 to 15 aircraft, rolling out roughly two per month.

Found, which occupies two hangars at the airport, is adding more manufacturing space by leasing an adjacent empty building from the airport authority in anticipation of a banner year ahead.

Hamblin says after a shaky two years in sales, the order book is backlogged with orders from the U.S.

Many private buyers are remote fish camp operators and wealthy sportsmen with ranches, cottage properties throughout the U.S. Midwest and West Coast.

After facing limited sales in Canada, the company had to look internationally to stay viable.

"It's not a very large growth market in Canada. People (here) would rather purchase older aircraft and maintain them rather than buy new aircraft. It just comes down to dollars and economic sense."

Found is also making some exploratory ventures into China, India and Africa, and has prepared some preliminary reports on what markets are available there.

"The way our aircraft are configured, governments find them very appealing, especially for search and rescue."

They are also pursuing a dealership network with stringent requirements that dealers must purchase the aircraft in order to sell them.

Hamblin attributes the improvement in sales largely to greater market acceptance and improving upon a winning design.

Some new design and technological changes included adding a Fowler flap system.

"It's a different kind of flap system that completely transformed the aircraft...allowing you to land at slower speeds, which means you (can) carry more.

"We've efficiently increased what you could carry by 15 percent."

Previously employing as many as 80 workers two years ago, Found was forced into layoffs two years ago due to a down cycle in the aviation industry. The company also waited for almost a year on Transport Canada approvals for the design changes to increase the Bush Hawk's gross weight.

Hamblin says without that approval, Found was unable to sell aircraft, forcing it to reduce staff and production, "...but that goes with being (in) a heavily regulated industry."