STATE OF GEORGIA

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Sonny Perdue
GOVERNOR

 For Immediate Release                                  Contact: Office of Communications, 404-651-7774
Thursday, November 1, 2007                            Maggie Large, GDEcD, 404-962-4830    

Renowned small aircraft manufacturer to locate in Valdosta

True Flight Aerospace, LLC to make Tiger Aircraft planes,

creating 150 jobs and investing $3.8 million

ATLANTA Tiger Aircraft has landed in Valdosta, where new owners True Flight Aerospace will locate a corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility. The company is expected to create 150 jobs over three years and invest $3.8 million.

"Georgia's aerospace industry has gotten even stronger with this great commitment from True Flight," said Governor Sonny Perdue.  "This year our state is celebrating 100 years of aviation and I am proud to welcome the new manufacturer of Tiger Aircraft to our state."

True Flight plans to build a 60,000 square foot facility on a 13-acre tract adjacent to the Valdosta Airport. The company plans to initially hire 25 employees, reaching full employment of 150 within three years and expects to offer salaries that are considerably higher than the average for Lowndes County.

"Locating in Valdosta will allow us to produce new state of the art aircraft based on the Grumman Tiger at competitive costs while maintaining the quality that our customers prize," said Kevin Lancaster, CEO of True Flight. "We look forward to becoming a good corporate citizen in Lowndes County."  Michelle Shaw was project manager for Georgia Department of Economic Development.

 "We are so proud to have True Flight locate in Valdosta," said Brad Lofton, Executive Director of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority. The state, the Valdosta-Lowndes County Airport Authority, the city of Valdosta and the industrial authority were all flying together in formation to land this great project.

True Flight Holdings LLC is a privately-held Georgia company that recently acquired Tiger Aircraft, LLC and the rights to the original Grumman designs including the updated AG-5B Tiger, a sporty single-engine model.  True Flight Holdings, LLC also obtained the type certificates and rights to manufacture four models of related aircraft.  True Flight Aerospace, LLC will build the aircraft under license.

For Release November 1, 2007

True Flight Aerospace Lands Tiger Aircraft in Valdosta, GA

It's official.  True Flight Aerospace has selected Valdosta, GA as the site for it's new 60,000 square foot manufacturing plant.  For the past several months leaders at True Flight Aerospace, LLC  the manufacturing arm of True Flight Holdings, LLC  have been quietly visiting sites all over the southeast.

According to True Flight CEO Kevin Lancaster the decision was a tough one but in the end the support of the state and local leadership made Valdosta the clear choice. "Valdosta is a great location.  It has the infrastructure, skilled labor pool and forward looking leaders that continue to attract new businesses to the area," he said.

The new facility will be located at the Valdosta Regional Airport on approximately 14 acres of land with an option for an additional 11 acres.  Once completed, the plant will have space to bring many of the previously outsourced processes on site.  According to Loyd Montague, Vice President and COO, "a key to controlling costs will be True Flight's ability to perform more of its own manufacturing.  Our previous facility was primarily an assembly plant.  Here we will have the ability to better control our production schedules and costs by bringing critical operations in house."

"The project is already well under way.  We hope to move into our new facility by the first of the year or shortly thereafter.  In the meantime we have leased space on the airport to allow us to open our repair station and bring all the tooling and inventory to Valdosta for staging our start up," Lancaster reports.  "Unlike starting from scratch, we already know the FAA approved procedures and systems required to build the Tiger.  With a core of experienced Tiger builders from the former operation we will train a new local team of up to 150 people much in the way a franchise start up is conducted.  The Tiger is such a great airframe that we don't have to reinvent the wheel."

True Flight Aerospace, LLC will build the popular AG5B Tiger commonly known as a Grumman Tiger.  Plans include several option levels ranging from a basic VFR aircraft all the way up to the Garmin G-1000 electronic flight deck.