Stratos 714
 

Interesting VLJ in early development. I am not sure I agree it can go to FL410 at 400 KTAS with only one turbine, probably more like 25k at 300 KTAS like its competitor the D-Jet, or that a single turbine is a safety advantage, but at least the idea is interesting. The odds of a new design like this from a new company ever making it to certification are almost nil but hey it's ok to try.

Stratos 714

Second conforming HondaJet prototype flies

(11/18/11, Greensboro, AvWeek) HondaJet has flown its second FAA-conforming prototype at its Greensboro, NC facility. The red and white jet, called “F2” by the company, made its first flight at around 2:30pm EST. Earlier in the day the jet made a series of successful high speed taxi tests, after which the airplane took to the air for a successful one hour maiden flight. Pilots Stefan Johansson and Tom Maurer were at the controls. Accompanying the airplane was a Falcon 10 used for test observation, plus a helicopter carrying photographers. After the flight was concluded, the pilots were received at the HondaJet Flight Test facility for a short ceremony and speech by company president and original designer of the HA-420 aircraft, Michimasa Fujino. The F2 prototype is the second of 4 FAA-conformed airplanes the company will produce. In December of last year the first of the series, F1 made its maiden flight. The HA-420 is currently scheduled for certification during the second half of 2012...

Second conforming HondaJet flies

(11/21, T. Spruce, CorporateJetInvestor) The second FAA conforming HondaJet aircraft flew last Friday on its maiden flight. The aircraft is painted in Honda racing red and is the third HA-420 to be built. F2 will now join the test programme. Honda are building a new aircraft manufacturing facility at Greensboro and it is expected to be finished and occupied in the first half of 2013. This timeline supports the HondaJet’s scheduled certification and entry into service in mid-2013.

Cirrus Vision SF-50 is a go
 

Development will continue on the single-engine oddity.

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Next Step for Cirrus Aircraft: Small Jets

(WCCO, B. Hudson, 11/28) — To say that Dale Klapmeier is excited about general aviation would be a gross understatement. Klapmeier is co-founder and CEO of Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft, the company that revolutionized safety in small airplanes. “The easier an airplane is to fly, the more often you fly, the better you are as a pilot, the safer. So it’s got to be simple, intuitive, very easy to understand what’s going on,” explained Klapmeier. To accomplish that in all Cirrus-designed airplanes, the company replaced conventional analog instruments with TV monitor screens or Primary Flight Display. The twin screens contain all instrument and navigational aids as well as a real-time XM satellite weather system. Pilots are able to see the same weather information as they would while doing pre-flight on the ground. The ability to see continuously changing weather systems in-flight helps them avoid trouble before they’re in it. But the initial marketing genius of Cirrus airplanes was the addition of a deployable parachute built into the fuselage of each plane. Since the first plane rolled off the assembly line in 1999, parachutes have been deployed 23 times and saved 49 lives. “They (Cirrus) brought it into the 21st century,” said pilot and plane owner Andy Niemyer...

close but didn't make it...
 

I know one of the key engineers for the former Grob SPn personal jet development program. The end of its development was not located in the airplane itself, it was in the organization- they ran out of money. It takes roughly a billion dollars to make a new business jet in development capital, a fact too few development organizations realize. A prototype crash in 2006 didn't help.

Wiki on GrobJet

When the power ball was around 250 million a month ago, I just knew I was going to win it, so I picked out a Phenom 100 that I was going to buy. I did some research a found that I could fly it comfortably to the condo I was buying at St. Thomas from KMIA.
It was such a good plan.....

Hawker Beechcraft Shelves Hawker 200

(S. Pope, 12/06, Flying) Citing the “fragile global economic situation,” Hawker Beechcraft has decided to slow development of the Hawker 200 light business jet, known originally as the Beechcraft Premier II, until market conditions rebound. “As you are aware, our industry is facing one of the most challenging markets in its history,” noted Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO Bill Boisture in a letter to employees. “The light jet segment has been particularly hard hit. Most manufacturers have made difficult decisions and are hopeful for a timely recovery. Unfortunately, economists and third-party industry analysts agree the timing of that recovery remains uncertain.”

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...os/ha420f2.png

Honda adds Third Test Aircraft

(R. Niles, AvWeb, 12/21) The past few years have been tough on the light jet sector, with several programs being put on hold or abandoned, but the slow but sure development of the HondaJet has been seemingly unaffected by the economic turbulence of late. In its typically slow and determined fashion, Honda Aircraft waited a month to announce the first flight of the third conforming test aircraft. The plane first flew (video here) on Nov. 18 but Honda didn't announce it until Monday. Two of the three aircraft are being used for flight tests while the other, which was the second conforming aircraft built, is ground-bound structural test article. The company said two more flight test aircraft and an unspecified number of structural test copies will be built in the coming year. It's been eight years since the first flight of the proof-of-concept HondaJet.

Honda out to shake up market with 1st jet next year

(Reuters, 01/30) Honda Motor Co. expects to grab at least a quarter of the world market for small business jets soon after delivering its first aircraft next year, achieving the company's long-standing goal of taking to the skies, an executive said.Honda, Japan's No.3 car maker and the world's biggest manufacturer of motorcycles and engines, is in the final stages of getting its $4.5 million HondaJet certified. It aims to ramp up the pace of production to 80 a year in the first half of 2013.

Cirrus [Vision SF50] Jet Program Goes Full Speed Ahead.

(S. Pope, 4/18/12, Flying) With the strong backing of its new Chinese owners, Cirrus Aircraft on Wednesday announced that the long-gestating Vision SF50 single-engine jet program has received full funding through certification and into initial production, now anticipated to start in 2015. “Today is simply a tremendous milestone for Cirrus,” said Dale Klapmeier, CEO and cofounder of Cirrus Aircraft. “We revolutionized general aviation with the introduction of the SR20 just over a decade ago. With more than 5,100 SR-series aircraft delivered to date, pilots, entrepreneurs, families and aviators of all kinds have embraced our dream. Today, that dream is renewed as we are on the cusp of an even bigger leap with the Cirrus Vision.”...

What Jet Pilots Don't Get about the Cirrus Jet.

(R. Goyer, 4/18/12, Flying) Why the Cirrus Jet brings the thrill of a jet within reach of more pilots- With Cirrus Aircraft’s announcement that it has gotten funding — nearly $150 million, by some accounts — for its single-engine jet, there’s great joy in Duluth, and rightly so. I’ve spoken with a couple of Cirrus reps on the subject, and they’re absolutely thrilled by the prospect, and that’s not because they’re supposed to be acting thrilled. They’re excited because their prospects are excited by the jet, so much so that they get asked by a high percentage of their customers when they can get a jet; a lesser percentage puts money down on the jet, flight unseen. Why these folks are so excited is an interesting question. There are problems with the jet, and here they are: it’ll be slow by jet standards; it’ll be low by jet standards; it will also be expensive, with the price expected to rise to right around $2 million by this summer...

Honda Jet Makes Progress

(R. Goyer, Flying, 5/15/12) Honda head Michimasa Fujino took the opportunity at Ebace to update the industry on the progress of Honda’s eponymous light jet on Monday, telling reporters that the fourth Honda Jet recently made its first flight and that the program is making great progress toward certification, with FAA and EASA certification anticipated in 2013. The jet recently flew up to 43,000 feet and achieved 425 knots true airspeed at 30,000 feet. Mr. Fujino said he believes there are some noteworthy figures still to come as test pilots expand the envelope in the higher flight levels. Test pilots have already conducted tests of the airplane’s tail boom-mounted speed brakes. Mr. Fujino said that the company plans to deliver a handful of airplanes 2013, to ramp up production in 2014 and to achieve full production rates in 2015...

More on this coming aircaft. My instinct tells me the over- the- wing engine pylons in this design are too long for adequate structural rigidity, but it will eventually be certified.

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HondaJet CEO Fujino gets AIAA Award for design

(Flying, 09/20/12) Even as the large-light HondaJet continues to make headway in flight and ground testing toward a scheduled 2013 certification, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is recognizing the man behind the aircraft – president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Michimasa Fujino – for the aerodynamic innovations that lie within the jet’s distinctive design.The Institute has awarded Fujino the 2012 AIAA Aircraft Design Award for the HondaJet’s most unique and eye-catching characteristic – it’s over-the-wing engine configuration – a design feature that sets it apart from its peers in the light-jet category and defies traditional engineering. Unlike other over-the-wing engine designs, which have traditionally suffered from high drag and lift reduction, the HondaJet’s configuration, the company claims, reduces drag and boosts performance, a claim that seems borne out by the excellent performance of the company’s prototypes, though to be fair, the HondaJet’s two main competitors, the emerging Citation M2 and the Embraer Phenom 100, boast strongly comparable performance...

Should be a pretty good airplane when it's done. The HondaJet is supposed to be type certificated this year as well.
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Eclipse Reveals More Details of New E550 VLJ

(AINalerts, 1/22/13, M. Huber) Eclipse Aerospace has revealed more details of its $2.695 million Eclipse 550 twinjet to AIN. CEO Mason Holland said that, while the 550 will continue to use the same airframe and engines as the EA500, there will be several cockpit, cabin and system changes. Avionics upgrades to the Innovative Solutions & Support flight deck include synthetic and enhanced vision, sharper displays, a separate avionics standby display unit, dual integrated flight management systems and autothrottles. The new interior package for the passenger cabin features higher-grade piped leathers, finished carpets, more robust table and cupholder attachments, better hand rails, a new one-piece cabin headliner that improves aesthetics, portable server, iPad and Bluetooth connectivity and a new intercom system for pilot-passenger communications. New aircraft will also be fitted with anti-lock brakes. Holland said Eclipse recently concluded fatigue testing that should eliminate the current 10-year/10,000-hour/10,000-cycle airframe life limit. “We’ve validated to 20,000 cycles or more than 40 years of normal use,” he told AIN. Eclipse plans to add three company-owned service centers in the U.S. this year, bringing the total number to six (five company-owned and one independent). Holland expects the first 550 to come off the line in July.

Eclipse Hits the Road

(P. Bertorelli, AvWeb, 2/10/2013) Quite out of the blue, the local controller at Orlando Executive Airport couldn't quite contain himself: "I really like that airplane," he said. He was referring to the Eclipse 500 we had just landed on runway 7 at KORL. His unsolicited compliment almost prompted me to key the mic and ask why he liked the airplane. Was it because the thing will fly comfortably from 100 to 250 knots below 10,000 feet and thus offers more sequencing flexibility for a busy ATC sector? I doubt it. I figure he liked it because the Eclipse is just a good looking airplane, with just the right proportions and, at least in the one we were in, a spiffy new paint job. It's also a nice little package of speed and efficiency and although it won't do it all, the Eclipse 500 does enough well to deliver on the appeal of a personally flown jet or a small, economical business ride. Having resurrected the airplane from the shambles of the original company, the newly constituted Eclipse Aerospace is making the rounds with demonstrators to show they're serious about making another run at the market. Serious, in this case, means a realistic price between $2.6 and $2.8 million and offshore assembly manufacturing in Poland to control costs. Welcome to the bold world of globalization at the small GA aircraft level...

Doomsday for D-Jet? Diamond Aircraft NA Suspending Operations

(B. Goyer,02/25/13, Flying) On Monday evening Diamond Aircraft Industries Canada President and CEO Peter Maurer made the startling announcement that the company was laying off “the majority” of its Canadian workforce, estimated at roughly 2,000 strong. The move, it said, was temporary pending what it called “restructuring.” It also said that it was suspending the D-Jet program “pending the securing of additional funding.” It gave no timetable for the re-hiring of the laid-off workers. Operations in the company's parent firm Diamond Aircraft are not affected.