Tamarack Aerospace Group, inventor and manufacturer of Active Winglets, announced at the National Business Aviation Association’s 2019 Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) in Las Vegas that it has filed a Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization which includes repayment of all creditors in full and, when approved, the plan will allow Tamarack to emerge from bankruptcy.
Tamarack sought bankruptcy protection on June 1st of this year when the timing for resolving airworthiness directives (ADs) became uncertain. The ADs had grounded the Active Winglet fleet of 91 aircraft after an erroneously reported incident on April 13, 2019. The grounding was resolved and worldwide Active Winglet operations resumed as of July 10, 2019, following factual review by FAA, EASA, the NTSB and the Air Accident Investigative Branch (AAIB) in the U.K.
The pilot of the April 13, 2019 uncommanded roll incident reported that the aircraft banked 90 degrees in one second. This triggered a chain of events that has made 2019 a tumultuous year for Tamarack. Regulatory agencies in the U.S and Europe reacted with airworthiness directives and the grounding of the entire fleet using the company’s Active Winglets before it was determined the roll rate reported by the pilot was inaccurate.
“The agencies were all experiencing a very contentious time due to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max fleet, so it was very difficult to get issues resolved,” said Jacob Klinginsmith, President of Tamarack Aerospace. “It took months of working with the agencies, having them review our certifications, trips to Europe and visits to our facilities before it was confirmed that the 90-degrees-per-second roll rate in the April 2019 incident was erroneous. It was actually a very benign roll incident, well within our certification standards. We are back on track now, taking new orders and completing installations.”
The chapter 11 bankruptcy has allowed Tamarack to make a number of strategic changes to the business geared towards making the company more resilient. “We continue to make significant progress in the reorganization, and we will emerge stronger and more viable than before,” Klinginsmith said. “In July, Tamarack received approval to accept a significant investment for ongoing operations; but the continued Active Winglet sales have allowed us to recover financially and ultimately to present a very strong plan of reorganization.
