SOCIETE DE CONSTRUCTION D'AVIONS DE TOURISME ET D'AFFAIRES
FRANCE
Formed 1966 as subsidiary of Sud-Aviation, to
develop and produce group's light sporting and business
aircraft. Currently subsidiary of Aerospatiale and
known as Socata Groupe Aerospatiale, products including
the TB30 Epsilon tandem two-seat piston-engined
trainer (first flown December 1979), Rallye lightplane in
four-seat 235F form, TB9 Tampico Club 4/5-seat lightplane
(first flown March 1979), TB10 and more powerful
TB200 Tobago 4/5-seat Iightplanes for basic/instrument
flight training and cross-country flying among their many
uses (first flown February 1977 and March 1991 respectively), TB20 and TB21 Trinidad 4/5-seat lightplanes with
higher-powered piston engines for advanced instrument
training among other roles, TBM 700 pressurized and turboprop-
powered business aircraft (first flown July 1988),
Omega tandem two-seat turboprop military trainer (first
flown April 1989), TB360 Tangara twin piston-engined
lightplane (first flown February 1997) based on U.S. Gulfstream
American GA-7 Cougar, new MS 180 Morane and
MS 250 Morane 4/5-seat lightplanes expected to fly in
the year 2000 and featuring newly developed SMA MR
turbocharged piston engines, tandem two-seat MS 300
Epsilon Mk 2 turboprop-powered basic and primary military
trainer that is expected to fly in year 2000, and HALE
high-altitude long-endurance communications and electronic
intelligence platform, based on TBM 700 but with
48m wingspan (expected to fly in year 2004).
Company made components under subcontract for wide
variety of aircraft, including Magister and Concorde, and current work includes components for Eurocopter helicopters,
Airbus and ATR airliners, Dassault Falcon bizjets,
Lockheed Martin Hercules freighter, and CFM56 engine.
