Renaissance Goes Missing

Questions abound about the future of Renaissance Aircraft LLC and probably no one is more concerned than the city council of Cape Girardeau, Mo. On Oct. 1, Renaissance is supposed to start paying $21,000 a month in rent on a $2.1 million building the city built for the company so it could manufacture an updated version of the venerable Luscombe 8. Cape Girardeau sold bonds to put up the 60,000-square-foot building but now the facility is locked up tight and the phones have been disconnected, according to the Southeast Missourian newspaper. Company owner John Dearden’s Cape Girardeau residential phone number has also been cut off, according to the paper. For almost a decade, Renaissance was embroiled in bitter lawsuits over the acquisition of the type certificate and manufacturing rights. It won those battles and a countersuit for damages. The company had booths at EAA AirVenture and Sun ‘n Fun and Dearden told AVweb he was optimistic about the future of the firm. Drop us a line, John. We’d love to get caught up…