The second production SJ30 built by Emivest Aerospace flew without a hitch during a recent international tour taken by its new owner, Morgan Freeman. The actor and private pilot was promoting his new movie, Invictus.
Delivered on 23 November to Freeman's professional pilot, the aircraft with Freeman on board toured destinations across the USA for one week, after which it flew across the Atlantic Ocean via Newfoundland and the Azores en route to Africa. After stops in Ghana and Angola, N30GZ carried Freeman to several locations in South Africa, where the Invictus story, with Freeman playing the part of Nelson Mandela, takes place.
The twinjet then flew on to Dubai, where Freeman visited Emivest's headquarters for an official delivery ceremony on 23 December. After a stop in Sicily, the SJ30 returned to the USA on a North Atlantic routing.
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"We had a mechanic in Dubai for other reasons and he looked the aircraft over while it was there," says Emivest. "There were no problems. It worked as advertised."
The company delivered two aircraft in 2009, s/n 008 and Freeman's aircraft, s/n 010, down from the six it had planned to deliver as of last summer. Three to four additional aircraft (s/n 009, 011, 012 and 013) are being readied for delivery this year, says the company.
Beyond that, the company has not yet updated its longer-term plans, which had called for ramping production to 45-50 aircraft a year by year's end.
Source: Flight International