SINO-SWEARINGEN Aircraft is delaying certification of the SJ30-2 business jet by nine months because of recent changes to the aircraft's specification.
Approval by the US Federal Aviation Administration has been deferred until at least the third quarter of 1999 following a gross-weight increase which has led to a request from Sino-Swearingen for the SJ30-2 to be certificated under commuter-aircraft rules.
The delay, and associated engineering work, will cost the Taiwanese-funded company an extra $15 million - described by David Lee, president of shareholder Sino Aerospace, as "-a lot of money, but important to getting the product right".
Sino-Swearingen president and chief executive officer Jack Braly says that certification under FAR Part 23 commuter rules would require a special dispensation because those rules were written specifically for propeller-driven aircraft.
An exemption, however, would allow the company to certificate the SJ30-2 at a weight above the 5,700kg limit which would be applied if it were to be certificated under normal rules.
The company wrote to the FAA requesting the exemption on 19 September. Certification under Part 23 would require the aircraft to meet more-stringent standards, particularly in areas such as flight-deck bird-strike protection.
Braly says that the weight increase results from physical changes to the airframe (in particular, an increase in fuselage length and the fitting of heavier Williams-Rolls FJ44-2A engines, together accounting for some 270kg) and greater expectations from customers.
They want to exploit the aircraft's increased power and size by using it on longer journeys, for which they may need extra survival equipment if those flights are made over water.
Braly concedes that not all customers will want the extra certificated weight (German purchasers, in particular, have objected to the tax implications in their market), and he agrees that the company may have to consider a "lightweight" option.
The SJ30-2 prototype had been flown for 7h with its new FJ44-2A engines by the time it arrived in the static display at Dallas. Braly says the company has 74 orders for the SJ30-2, the current selling price of which is $3.7million.
Source: Flight International
