Originally Posted by
Cubdriver
Thanks, but I'm on it. They seem to be advertising more jobs than they actually desire to fill, the recession put a hold in the PiperJet program which is what those jobs were all for. The only bizjets going ahead now are those that were pretty much done before the current economic recession. There are countless aircraft projects currently on hold.
Turns out they decided to go ahead with this program although I read on their website 6 months ago that it was on hold. It is only 50-60 jobs in a market for engineers that is presently over run with talent. There were around 10,000 out of work in Wichita alone last year. I am still running in to highly experienced people at job fairs who have not worked since. Here is some news on the PiperJet program.
PiperJet On Schedule For 2013 Deliveries
4/13 , George Larson. AviationWeek.com. Despite the recession, there has been no slowdown in progress on the PiperJet, according to Piper Aircraft CEO Kevin Gould. In remarks made at the annual Sun ‘n’ Fun Fly-In April 13, Gould says the proof-of-concept aircraft has logged 340 hours of data gathering during 240 flights that have explored both high-speed and low-speed flight regimes. The company is hiring 60 to 70 additional engineers as the project moves into the next phase. Detailed design is underway, to be followed by assembly of a conformal aircraft, which will mark the time when actual certification flight testing can get underway. The company hopes to have a conformal model ready before the end of the year. The preliminary design review is complete, and the aircraft is currently on schedule and meeting its weight and cost targets, with first deliveries scheduled for 2013. Piper still has 200 standing orders for the single-engine, $2.199 million personal jet, with very few cancellations during the economic downturn, Gould says.