Evoking Youth & Enthusiasm

Looking for a refreshing blast of youth and enthusiasm in the small airplane world? Then drop in to Gadsden, Alabama and try to keep up with Jonathan McCormick. He’s the big buffing pad at Evoke Aircraft Design and he’s got a thing about contemporary designs on airplanes cleaner than the average surgical suite.

We couldn’t help notice Evoke stickers on too many of the really high-end show planes at AirVenture this year, and after talking to Jonathan in the Evoke booth near homebuilt parking we now know why. Packaging meaningful design talent and all the OCD-fueled passion for making things just a little bit better than perfect, Jonathan has built Evoke into a design and paint finishing school of the first order.

A universally young company—its 22 employees must average no more than 22 years of age—Evoke puts in the hours of preparation to make surfaces as true and closely mated as you could imagine and then painstakingly paints them. The results are impressive—and costly—and popular. Jonathan reports his company keeps aircraft moving through the shop in batches of eight; the order book has over 120 planes in it and Evoke is booked into 2025. Talk about lead times.

At AirVenture Evoke was introducing their proprietary line of cleaners and waxes. To his credit Jonathan didn’t claim anything revolutionary about his new line of mouse milks, but simply said he worked with a chemist to make a line of premium products that would work well to both keep airplanes clean and Evoke’s name in circulation. Seems to be working and you can give it a try for $20 a bottle for your choice of Speed Wax, Glass Cleaner, Bug Remover, or everyone’s favorite, Quick Clean detailer.