On Wednesday, January 16th Stavatti CEO Chris Beskar was selected to serve as the Chief Designer for a new Small Cargo Aircraft that will be developed and produced by Skytruck, Inc. of New Orleans, Louisiana. Skytruck, Inc. is a new, privately held aircraft manufacturer incorporated in January 2008 focused on the design, production and support of next generation air cargo aircraft. Skytruck, Inc. was founded by President & Chairman William G. Rheams and CEO Edward J. Peak. The Small Cargo Aircraft is the brainchild of William Rheams and will be the first project of Skytruck, Inc.

The Small Cargo Aircraft (SCA) will be a twin-engine turboprop utility transport that will combine extraordinary short field performance with a competitive cruise speed and transcontinental range to solve tomorrow’s commercial and military transport needs. A trail-blazer that opens up new markets, the SCA will represent the first 3rd level cargo aircraft with a drop-down cargo ramp capable of operating from considerably short, unprepared airstrips worldwide, making operations from hard-to-reach regions of Africa, Asia and South America practical. A series that has the potential of becoming a highly respected cargo airliner/airlifter, the SC-100 was conceived in the spirit of the DC-3/C-47 that saw production numbers of over 10,000 units. Designed to serve as a 3rd level cargo aircraft for the transport of standardized containers, the SCA will capable of transporting payloads of more than three tons over 1,000 nm at a cruise speed of approximately 300 KTAS.

A rugged, all-metal aircraft that benefits from advanced manufacturing technologies including Friction Stir Welding, the SCA will be designed to operate from unprepared short fields. Preliminary SCA conceptual design has focused upon two design approaches including a conventional all-metal, twin engine arrangement with an aft fuselage drop-down cargo ramp and an advanced configuration featuring composite NASA Langley inspired Hyper-Elliptic Cambered Span (HECS) wings and canard mounted pusher engines. The SCA will be a product of Skytruck, Inc. of New Orleans, Louisiana. Stavatti Aerospace will serve as a member of the Skytruck SCA Industry Team, providing engineering design and development support.