Sino Swearingen Aircraft's prototype SJ30-2 entry-level business jet passed the 300h flight test mark earlier this month. At the same time, new Williams Rolls FJ44-2A engines in the prototype broke 200 flight hours.
The electronically controlled engines first flew in the prototype, SN/001, about 18 months ago. The company had used FJ44-1 fanjets for the first 100h of tests.
Since its first flight in late 1996, the SJ30-2 testbed has confirmed projections for its range and speed: up to 4,600km (2,500nm) at Mach 0.78 and a high-speed cruise capability of Mach 0.83.
Additionally, handling tests have shown that the aircraft possesses ample manoeuvring margins, even during high-altitude, high-speed turns at loads up to 1.8g.
The test flight work is part of Sino Swearingen's "risk-reduction programme," an effort to use the pre-production prototype to find and eliminate problems that might otherwise surface only once production prototypes were flying US Federal Aviation Administration-approved certification test flights.
Next on the agenda, says the company, is installation of roll and pitch autopilot servos in advance of testing the Honeywell EPIC flight control system that will be standard on the SJ30-2.
The inaugural flight of the first production prototype, SN/002, is expected in the fourth quarter, followed early in 2000 by the second and third test aircraft. Certification is expected in the fourth quarter of next year. Production will begin next year at a new factory the company has built in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Sino Swearingen has orders for 140 SJ30-2s, each bound by a non-refundable deposit of $75,000.
Source: Flight International
