They do things the old-fashioned way in Bartlesville, Okla. Instead of weaving a complex fabric of tax breaks, lease discounts and other incentives commonly used to attract industry to a town, the good people of Bartlesville are simply putting cash on the table. For every job created by the new Micco Aircraft plant, the community will cough up $1,000. “They looked at several locations in Oklahoma and they selected Bartlesville,” Jim Fram, president of Bartlesville Development Corp., told the Tulsa World. Micco, which was formerly a project of the Seminole Tribe in Florida, estimates it will add about 54 people to the payroll over the next three years, so Bartlesville City Council set aside $60,000 to cover the incentive costs. Micco builds the SP26, a two-place aerobatic aircraft in retractable tailwheel configuration. The plane, which is powered by a Lycoming IO-540 putting out 260 hp, cruises at about 155 knots. Micco is also planning to build Tecnam light sport aircraft and offer rental and instruction.
