Utilicraft FF-1080

The FF-1080 is an aircraft design by Utilicraft Aerospace Industries of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, for a twin turboprop aircraft fitted to carry LD3 aircraft cargo containers between large airports and smaller airports.

Twin Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150C turboprop engines driving 6-bladed propellers provide the STOL performance with takeoff runs of less than 3000 ft. The aircraft is designed to carry as much as 20000 lb for a 3200 nmi range carrying beneath its 1315 sqft of high-mounted wings.

American Utilicraft, the predecessor of Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, patented the design for the FF-1080 in 1991. Prototype engineering began in 2000 at Aircraft Design Services Incorporated in San Antonio, Texas. A company called Micro Craft was chosen to build the prototype, with plans to build subassemblies at a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, and to assemble the prototype at Gwinnett Airport in Atlanta.

American Utilicraft entered a memorandum of understanding with the San Juan Pueblo (now known as the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) to build a production aircraft assembly plant in northern New Mexico. The Ohkay Owingeh Indian pueblo is the owner of Ohkay Owingeh Airport. State officials encouraged the companies and the pueblo to seek state loans to begin production of the aircraft.

Variants

 * FF-1080 Freight Feeder: base-line freighter, planned and designed from the early 1990s; not built.
 * FF-1080-100: short fuselage version for 4 LD3 containers, powered by 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW121 turboprop engines; not built.
 * FF-1080-200: initial standard version, 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW122, 6 LD3 containers; not built.
 * FF-1080-300ER: base-line version from December 2004, carrying up to 10 LD3 or 5 A-1 containers; not built.
 * FF-1080-500: enlarged version, re-designated FF5000; not built.
 * FF4000: proposed shrink for 4 M-1 containers / 11340 kg payload; not built.
 * FF5000: standard version from 2008, 6 M-1 containers, renamed FF5000; not built.