CAPE STILL IN RUNNING FOR AIRCRAFT BUILDER

VisionAire Corp. has narrowed its search for a site for its proposed new VisionAire Vantage single-engine business jet manufacturing facility to two.

Cape Girardeau and Ames, Iowa.

"We've reviewed 30 locations," said Gary Pluth, chief financial officer of VisionAire, headquartered at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, "we were extremely impressed with the professional approach of Cape Girardeau and Ames. Both have demonstrated strong desire and ability to meet VisionAire's criteria for an assembly site."

"We're pleased to be one of the final sites," said John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

"The odds are better now," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. "One of two is a lot better than one of 30."

Pluth added that both communities have appeared eager to assist the company in securing $2.75 million community portion of funds to develop the VisionAire Vantage business jet to its flying prototype stage.

Robinson has established a meeting for June 20 to discuss the new business with potential investors.

"We are not investment experts," Robinson said. "We have reviewed and studied the concept of VisonAire's Vantage aircraft. We have discussed it with numerous pilots who feel there is a market niche for the proposed aircraft."

Robinson added that VisionAire officials will attend the June 20 meeting at the Holiday Inn Executive Room, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Some Cape Girardeau people already have investments with VisionAire.

The proposed manufacturing facility will provide about 150 jobs initially, and will represent a $6.5 million investment in property and facility adjacent to the airport. The facility will include a 120,000-square-foot manufacturing building.

Pluth also addressed the $2.75 million community involvement.

"These funds will establish a long-term relationship between VisonAire and the community we choose," Pluth said. "The funds will be stock equity in the company. They will not be used to build the construction facility."

Like Cape Girardeau, Ames has been talking with VisionAire the past two years.

"A number of people here have already invested in VisionAire," Ames Economic Development Coordinator Mark Reneck said.

Ames, a community of about 50,000, including 25,000 Iowa State students, is putting a high priority on attracting VisionAire to the community.

"We'll be devoting more staff and time to develop a campaign to get the company here," Reneck said.

VisionAire was founded in St. Louis in 1988 by James O. "Jim" Rice Jr. to develop the first all-composite monojet business aircraft at affordable prices and low operating costs.

The Vantage, which will be powered by a Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5 engine, is designed for five passengers and a pilot. Maximum cruising speed of the plane, which is expected to be priced well under the $2 million mark, will be about 410 mph.

VisionAire awarded a contract for construction of a full-scale, proof-of-concept, prototype of the new Vantage aircraft last month.

The prototype will be produced by Scaled Composites Inc. of Mojave, Calif., under the direction of renowned aircraft maker Burt Rutan.

The timetable calls for construction of the new facility to get under way in late-1996 to early 1997.