Xenon is the brainchild of Raphael Celier a French aircraft designer. His lifelong interest in aviation led to positions as diverse as being a 747 Cargo manger and an Ultralight flight instructor. After a stint at TWA Raphael was able to pursue his passion for design and hone his skills at Dassault Aviation in France. Dassault are the manufacturers of the French military's Mirage Jets and the civilian Falcon Business Jets. Raphael uses the same high tech design approach and cutting edge aircraft design software that is used at Dassault.
Under his own banner Raphael has produced more than 15
different small aircraft as varied as paramotors, trikes, fixed wing aircraft
and gyroplanes. Over 5,000 of his various machines are flying
including breakthrough light weight drones used by scientists and the military.
Raphael holds instructor and test pilot ratings for numerous small aircraft.
The design of Xenon was years in the making and involved an investment over half a million dollars. To date over 30 are flying. In 2006 Raphael moved his company, Celier Aviation from France to a new factory in Poland where he partnered with Artur Trendak, a Polish manufacturer. Poland's lower salaries and large pool of skilled workers allow them to produce a superior gyroplane at a reasonable price.
Artur is the general manager of the company and runs the factory. He is fully hands on in the factory to assure the machines are completed in every detail to his and Raphael's high standards.
In January of 2007 the factory consisted of only 4 workers and usually 3-4 machines under construction at one time. By the end of 2007 the factory team was up to 24 workers including specialists for electrical work, welding, composites, production management, engineering and other disciplines. It is not uncommon for up to 10 cabins to be in various stages of production.
Xenon USA
The exclusive importer of Xenons for the US is the company Future Flight LLC owned by Rob Dubin. Rob took his first gyro flight in 1995 and was permanently hooked. In 2005 Rob made a historic flight by gyroplane to visit all 48 States in the Continental US. The trip involved over 10,000 miles of cross country flying in a gyroplane and included visits to airports of all sizes. Rob holds single engine land and sea plane ratings, instrument rating and a rotorcraft gyroplane rating. Rob has flown many of the 2 place enclosed gyroplanes available today and chose Xenon as the gyro he wanted to fly personally and as the company he wanted to represent in America. To read about his historic gyroplane flight to all 48 states click here.