Carter Aviation’s long overdue repayment of over $3.28 million in loans from the city of Wichita Falls may be headed to a courtroom in October, according to court documents.
Discussion of the city’s legal action against Carter Aviation is on the agenda of a Wichita Falls Economic Development Corp. meeting at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in rooms 3 and 4 of the Multi-Purpose Events Center, 1000 Fifth Street. The meeting is open to the public, but the Carter discussion is set to be held behind closed doors in executive session.
The court documents show the EDC sued the company under its names of Carter Aviation Technologies, Carter Air Vehicles and Carter Aerospace Development in August 2025 to collect on seven loans made from August 2010 through June 2013.
The money was intended for land, buildings and equipment for aircraft research, development and manufacturing in exchange for creating jobs, the court documents said.
Among Carter’s projects were development of personal helicopters to be manufactured here, according to an Aug. 6, 2009, article in the Times Record News.
The EDC renewed the loans in 2015 with a due date of June 12, 2022, with an agreement that the city would get 20% of certain patents Carter owned, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said the Carter companies “failed to make any payments and refuse to make any payments.”
The EDC is asking for repayment of the principal amount plus interest of $296,391.
Company President Jay Carter Jr. told the EDC meeting on Oct. 20, 2022, that his company would soon have a lot of money but couldn’t pay its loan at that time, according to an Oct. 21, 2022, article in the Times Record News.
He said then that the company was involved in financial dealings with other large companies that would result in a public stock offering that “will mean more than enough money to pay all our debts and make our shareholder wealthy.” He said the money owed to the city would be a fraction of what the company would have.
Carter blamed the company’s money shortage at the time on “dirty tricks played against us” by the military and others in the aerospace industry.
Carter’s response to the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 22, 2025, and denied all allegations in the city’s lawsuit.
The matter is scheduled for a bench trial on Oct. 13 in 30th District Court, according to court records.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Whatever happened to the millions Carter Aviation owes Wichita Falls?
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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