None are certificated yet, but a frontrunner in the new competition between personal jets could be delivered as a kit before July's AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Epic's Victory has more than 250 flight hours, and president Rick Schrameck says changes to the Federal Aviation Administration's home-built rules should not stop the company from inviting customers into the factory to finish construction. "We apparently dealt with all [the FAA's] concerns," he says.
Mock-ups of the Diamond D-Jet and PiperJet will also be at Oshkosh, along with a model of Cirrus's "The-Jet", as orders continue to climb for jets with one engine.
Certification is expected this year for the Victory and the D-Jet. "I don't know who is going to finish first," Schrameck says, adding that his jet has 250h of flight testing. "All the flutter tests have been done. Structural analysis is complete. We're doing systems now. Pressurisation is finished," he says. Seats are being repositioned in a new interior to expand space in the $1.3 million aircraft.
Its new production facility will be in Canada, but not Calgary, as planned. "It's too expensive to be there," Schrameck says. A facility in India is ready for the company, with the new majority owner (and owner of Kingfisher Airlines) ready to go. But promised certification support from Airbus has still not been spelled out eight months after it was announced. "The programme definition has taken longer than I'm happy with because of the complexity of Vijay Mallya, Epic Aircraft and EADS," Schrameck says.
Piper says the new construction site for its PiperJet is still unknown. "The final decision is very close," it says. Vero Beach, Florida is hoping to entice Piper to stay in its long-time home and it is there that flight tests will begin in the second half of this year. "Engine testing is done by Williams. We will test in the aircraft once the proof-of-concept is complete," Piper says. Delivery is now planned for 2011, a push back from the earlier 2010 date. The $2.2 million PiperJet has had its Williams FJ44-3AP mounted and unmounted for testing.
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An engine switch is pushing back delivery of the D-Jet, and will push the price up from $1.38 million. On 13 March the Austrian manufacturer announced that the extra thrust and "improved specific fuel consumption" of the Williams FJ33-4A-19 will take the place of the FJ33-4A-15. "While making this change now rather than later means that initial deliveries will be in the second quarter of 2009, we are confident this is the right choice and in the interest of all D-Jet customers," says president Peter Maurer. Serial No 3 had its first flight on 14 April from Diamond's Ontario site in Canada.
The last entry into this new field has yet to announce a certification date, although its first flight is less than two months away. Cirrus has attached the wing and tail of its aerodynamically confirming The-Jet prototype and fitted the FJ33-4A-19 engines after making some aerodynamic changes from its debut last June.
That engine rests above The-Jet's V-tail, behind the recovery chute, and could yet push the aircraft off grass runways, says chief executive Alan Klapmeier. The company is taking orders but has not specified the price, except to say it will be between $1 million and $1.3 million. The prototype is named V1 for "verification".
Colorado-based Excel Jet is building its second pre-production jet, and will fly the first to Oshkosh in July. The march to certification continues after a 2006 crash and setback, but before that injury-free incident the company had already determined performance and the handling envelope of the new $1.2 million jet.
Source: Flight International
