Emivest Aerospace says its first production SJ30, serial number 8, flew from the company's San Antonio, Texas, production facility on 30 May.
The $7.25 million twinjet is the first customer aircraft flown since Emivest purchased the company from Sino Swearingen last year. Emivest owns one of the two customer SJ30s that were previously built by Sino Swearingen, using the aircraft for demonstrations and flight training in San Antonio.
Chief test pilot John Siemens and production test pilot Bryan Dennison say the new aircraft flew "exceptionally well" as the two completed flight-test card elements, including handling qualities, stability and control and "selected critical systems", says the company.
After production flight testing, serial number 8 will be delivered to the Jet Works Air Centre in Denton, Texas for painting, extra avionics including HF radios, and in-flight entertainment system installation.
Emivest plans to deliver as many as six aircraft this year as it tools up to achieve a steady state build rate of 45-50 aircraft a year by the end of 2010.
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Source: Flight International
