BURT RUTAN'S Scaled Composites (SCI) will fly a prototype of VisionAire's Vantage single-turbofan business jet in April 1996. SCI has a contract to build the prototype and complete the first 40 flights of the six-place, all-composite, aircraft.
VisionAire, based in St Louis, Missouri, unveiled a full-scale cabin mock-up of the $1.5 million Vantage at NBAA. The mock-up has a pressure-vessel test article produced by SCI using the filament-winding process planned for production aircraft.
VisionAire chairman Jim Rice says that certification and delivery of the first six aircraft is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 1998. The company holds deposits on 19 aircraft, he says. The project is being funded by 110 private investors.
The Vantage is powered by a 13kN (2,900lb)-thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada JT12D-5. The aircraft has a forward-swept wing, mid-mounted behind the cabin. A low wing-loading provides the low stall speed required for certification of a single-engine aircraft, says Rutan. Design range is 1,850km (1,000nm), cruise speed 350kt (650km/h) and operating altitude 41,000ft (12,500m).
Price says that four production prototypes, including two flight-test aircraft, will be built in St Louis, but production Vantages will be assembled by VisionAire in Ames, Ohio, using components supplied by subcontractors. Plans call for production of 66 aircraft in 1999 and 97 in 2000, he says.
Source: Flight International
