Karen Walker
Pilots nickname it the Porsche of the business jet world. The Galaxy Aerospace Astra SPX, which is making its debut appearance at Farnborough, has a maximum speed of Mach 0.875 and typical cruise of M0.82, making it the fastest in its category.
More than 20 SPX aircraft are now in service with corporate customers around the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the USA. The SPX is also in service with the US Air National Guard as a special missions aircraft.
The aircraft on display is Galaxy's demonstrator. It was flown to Farnborough from the company's headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
The journey was completed in two short hops of about 4h30min each, stopping in Canada to refuel, says pilot Jim Lewis. Flight International's flight test pilot Peter Henley was given the opportunity to fly the aircraft just before the show and was impressed. "It handles very well indeed," he says. "A stall is really a non-event in this aircraft."
Galaxy president and chief executive officer Brian Barents says the company now expects to be producing between 12 and 15 aircraft a year "indefinitely".
Until the end of today, the SPX will share the limelight with its new big sister, the Galaxy super-midsize jet. But the SPX will get that spotlight all to itself from Thursday because the Galaxy will return to Israel this afternoon to resume its flight test programme.
"The SPX is taking on a life of its own now," says Barents. "It is well respected within the market. There is a market niche for this airplane."
Source: Flight Daily News
