Edward J. Swearingen, Chairman of Sino Swearingen Aircraft Company of San Antonio, has been awarded the Texas Department of Transportation’s 1996 Career Achievement Award for his contribution to aviation. “His hard work and leadership is an inspiration to all of us in aviation,” said David Fulton, Director of TxDOT’s Aviation Division. Tom Griebel, TxDOT’s Assistant Executive Director for Multimodal Transportation, presented Mr. Swearingen with the award at the 1996 Texas Airport Operators Conference in Austin.
Mr. Swearingen is highly respected for his outstanding achievements in the aviation industry. His contribution to aviation in Texas and internationally, has been enormous. His commitment to aviation and his innovative ideas continue to inspire.
Mr. Swearingen is an internationally recognized leader in the market identification, design, development and manufacture of precedent setting aircraft and aircraft modification programs. His many design, development and manufacturing accomplishments include the Merlin IIA and Merlin 118, the Merlin Ill and the Merlin IV turboprop corporate aircraft and the Lockheed Jetstar II, Piper Twin Comanche and Cheyenne, various research vehicles for Bell Helicopter, and numerous modifications of propeller driven aircraft manufactured by Lockheed and Beech. Swearingen also designed the Metro, a commuter transport that quickly became the most popular aircraft in the worldwide commuter airline industry. More than 1,000 Metros have been manufactured and are in use on an international scale.
Throughout his career, Swearingen founded a series of companies including Fairchild Aircraft Company and Swearingen Aircraft, Inc., where he created innovative aircraft designs and modifications. He also 2 served in a variety of key design and development roles while he was the assistant director of research and development for Lear, Inc. In this position he played an instrumental role in the preliminary design stages of the aircraft that became known as the Lear Star.
Swearingen began his aviation career at the age of 16, alternating his work between mechanics and electronics. Today, he is heavily involved with his newest program, the development and production of the SJ30 high performance, affordable, light twin engine business jet. To accomplish this goal, Sino Swearingen Aircraft Company was formed as an international partnership between Sino-Aerospace Investment Corporation of the Republic of China and Swearingen Aircraft, Inc., of San Antonio in January 1995.
Site preparation for the SJ30 manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia has begun. The new plant will include 120,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The company plans to add a 30,600 square-foot flight-operations building in 1999 and an 18,750 squarefoot paint building in 2000. Plans also call for 255,000 square feet of asphalt for aircraft parking, fueling, engine run-up and preflight.
Soon Mr. Swearingen’s dream of a new era in small corporate jets will become a reality.