Come Fly With Me

by
Maryann Miller

Jan Pjatak, President of Tomark Aero USA LLC, was at the airport in Winnsboro last week, introducing pilots to his Viper SD-4 Light Sport Plane. Quite a few folks showed up throughout the day to see the plane, which is new to the United States, and not all of them were pilots.

Some came just to meet Jan and to find out what the buzz is about his new business in Winnsboro. "I will be selling the planes here," Jan explained, "and depending on how sales go, I will start making them in Winnsboro. But that is some time down the road."

There is no set date on when that might happen. Jan said that he would like to sell at least 10 planes first, but he is confident about what U.S. sales could be. "We have been selling already in Europe, South America, Australia, Africa and Mexico," Jan said. "And I think sales in the U.S. will outnumber the sales elsewhere. People just need to know what a great little plane this is."

Some of the specs that make the Viper stand out include a larger cabin, aluminum construction as opposed to plastic, and a patented canopy that allows for more headroom. The Viper can also tow a glider, which not many light planes can do. It comes equipped with a tow bar. It is also priced lower than other small planes in the same class.

John Wisdom (L) from the Wood County Airport outlines some of the advantages of owning a light plane like the Viper, which has some similarities to the Piper light aircraft that most people are familiar with. "There are less physical requirements to fly a small plane like this," John said. "As long as you have a valid driver's license you can be licensed to fly a sport plane. A person still needs to go through training for a pilot's license, but it will have some limitations. For instance, you could not fly at night and the light planes are not allowed to go to the larger airports."

Some of the safety features of a light plane include a limited top speed as well as a low stall speed. John said that is particularly helpful so older pilots can continue to fly even when their response time might be slightly slower than when they were in their prime.

One of the other local pilots to come to the event was Alan Anderson, who has a Kit Fox light plane. He used to have his own airstrip on property he owned, but when he downsized to just 25 acres near Winnsboro, he put the plane in a hanger in Mt. Pleasant. "I'll move it down here when a hanger opens," Alan said. "It will be much better to have it closer when I want to take it up."

Alan, pictured here with Jan, volunteers at the Winnsboro airport and was helping bring some planes in for the event that day. A number of pilots came from around Northeast and East Texas. Chuck Olmstead came from Sulphur Springs. Bill Bracken flew from Grand Prairie, and David Landrum came from McKinney.

The pilots were all eager to check out the new plane, although David quipped that he only came because Chuck told him to.

Francis Roberts (below) came from Air Park East, a community of flying enthusiasts about 45 miles east of Dallas that has its own airport. When not flying, Francis is a financial litigator. He found a number of things to like about the Viper, even though he said he is a "Piper guy. I've had two of them and they are nice planes."

The Air Park East community has 16 homes and 11 of the homeowners also own a plane. "We like to fly."

Jan, who is originally from the Czech Republic and still goes there every other month for business, spends the other months in the U.S. He lives in Frisco, Texas with his wife, Terry, and sons Nicholas and Sebastian. "Nicholas loves to go flying," Jan said. "Anytime we get in the car he asks if we are going to fly. He gets bored with straight flying, but likes for me to do maneuvers."

Tomark Aero will be the official U.S. and Canadian importer for the Viper, which is manufactured in the Czech Republic. They have been making the planes for 6 years and they are quite popular for business people who use them for business and personal transportation. Jan said the South Korean government has also ordered some to use for training military pilots. "Maybe because the cockpit opens like a jet fighter," Jan said.

Another reason is probably the durability of the plane. The metal construction adds hours of flight time to the aircraft before it starts showing significant signs of wear. And if it is run on pure unleaded fuel - no ethanol - an additional 1000 hours can be added to the life of the engine.

That fuel is the reason Jan chose Winnsboro to locate his business. The airport here is the only one in Texas that has unleaded fuel without ethanol.