Northwest Aerospace News April | May Issue No. 2 | Page 22

C
ox said, “When our self-contained
computers sense the wing moving
outside the load threshold that we set,
they command our high-speed actu-
ators to pop up our Tamarack Active
Camber Surface (TACS) and ‘turn
off’ the winglet for however long is
needed, sometimes only fractions of a
second. So, the owner has the best of
both worlds: the performance enhance-
ment of the wing extension and the
Active Winglet, without the need for
added structure and weight to protect
the wing from excess loading.”
Rapid ramp-up and regional
partnerships
Tamarack engaged in a partnership
arrangement with aircraft manufactur-
er Cessna, that enables them to both
sell and install the winglet at their
facilities. They train Cessna Citation
Service Centers to conduct installation,
as an Installation and Retail Partner.
Cessna sells the winglets on behalf of
Tamarack and provides installation at
their locations, following training by
Tamarack.
Tamarack also sells the wings direct-
ly out of their facility in Sandpoint,
and provides installation. Per client
request, they provide a white-glove
service where they will pick up the
client planes, fly them to their location,
install the winglets, and fly them back.
Since company inception in 2010,
Tamarack now has winglets installed
on 34 business jets around the world,
including the U.S., Australia, and
Europe. Their goal is to have winglets
on 100 aircraft by year-end.
In Sandpoint, Idaho, a city of about
8,000 residents, Tamarack cur-
rently has two locations. One is
a 6,300-square-foot hangar at the
Sandpoint Airport, a county-owned,
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS
public-use airport mainly consisting of
flights by private pilots. At the hangar,
they have 12 employees — engineers,
and administrative staff. The sec-
ond location is an 8,000-square-foot
production facility with 11 employees
who assemble the composite winglet
to the other parts of the winglet kit. By
this summer, they will bring the two
facilities into one hangar at the airport
for closer proximity.
The ATLAS® Active Winglet system
is comprised of an aluminum wing
extension, a built-in load alleviation
device (the TACS), and an optimally
sized and shaped winglet. The wing-
let itself is made from carbon fiber.
The kit also includes the aluminum
extension, the ATLAS Control Unit
(ACU), and TAC Control Unit (TCU)
actuators. “The winglet also has a
custom built-in LED light, which is an
upgrade on a CJ today,” said Cox.
To increase production, Cox said that
they have partnered with Unitech in
Hayden, Idaho to produce the compos-
ite winglet. Tamarack produces the rest
of the winglet kit, including the alumi-
num wing extension, at their facility.
The value of the “bolt-on”
winglet
When customers buy the winglet kit
from Tamarack, the cost can range
from $200,000–$329,000. The wing-
lets are installed on aircraft that can
be valued from one to four million
dollars, and according to customer
Bern Kotelko, a cattle rancher out of
Alberta, Canada, “It is something that
added a lot more to our aircraft — very
pleased with it. It brings the CJ1+ to
a CJ2 regarding climb performance.”
According to Kotelko, who uses the
plane to fly to vacation destinations,
“It’s an economic way
of moving up a notch.”
Also, before the winglet installation
is complete, it is painted to match the
aesthetics of the aircraft.