Personal Jets
 

Vote for your favorite Personal Jet. Poll closes in 30 days. I started this thread mainly for the purpose of collecting news clips on these airplanes.

Wiki: List of Very Light Jets

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GE Honda Ships Redesigned HF120 Turbofan Engines.

(Flight International, 10/19, Croft) reported, "The GE Honda Aero Engines team has shipped two HF120 turbofan engines with modified fan blisks for Honda's F2 flight test aircraft in North Carolina following a redesign of the titanium components after icing tests earlier this year. The aircraft is expected to join the test programme in November." After tests revealed the icing issues, Honda "redesigned the fan blade, increasing the thickness of the leading edge of the 16 fan blades on the blisk and changing the manufacturing process for the component." Now, some of the tests the previous engine conducted have to be rerun.

Bd-5j
 

Doesn't get any more "personal" than a one-seat jet!!

Friend of mine flies for SMART-1. They give it a different name; it's still a BD-5J.

SMART-1: Photo Gallery

I designed a personal jet very similar to the BD-5J in college. It is a novel design. Maybe I can find a drawing to post.

Never flown any of these aircraft... but I'd probably be able to jump in a Phenom and have her off the ground in 30 minutes or less.

I've never flown in an L-39 but they seem pretty popular as personal jets. Definitely looks cool.

The Piperjet is history
 

Someone pointed out the fact that the only jet company to enter the market successfully starting with a jet and nothing previous was LearJet back in the early 60s.

Piper suspends Altaire program, cutting Fla. jobs

(M. McMillin, The Wichita Eagle, 10/24) Piper Aircraft, which was recruiting employees in Wichita just three weeks ago, is suspending development on its $2.5 million Altaire business jet and cutting about 150 jobs at its Vero Beach, Fla., facility. The suspension comes after an evaluation of economic conditions and forecasts for the light jet market, company officials said. They said the program was on schedule, on budget and hitting aircraft performance targets. Planned development costs have risen above the point that would be recoverable with the current market forecasts, they said. The company held a job fair in Wichita on Oct. 7 to recruit employees primarily for the Altaire business jet program. Piper will cut 150 jobs as the program ramps down. That will bring employment from 850 people to about 700. It also will eliminate 55 positions held by contract personnel. "Clearly, the market for light jets is not recovering sufficiently and quickly enough to allow us to continue developing the program under the economic circumstances we face," Piper interim president and CEO Simon Caldecott said in a statement. Piper isn't saying how much it had budgeted for the Altaire's development or its expenses to date. It will refund the deposits of Altaire customers. In the meantime, the company plans to step up product improvements for its current line of turboprop and piston-powered airplanes, Caldecott said. Read more: Piper suspends Altaire program, cutting Fla. jobs | Wichita Eagle

I was digging around for CAD drawings of my own designs and thought of this one: Wiki- JA5 Walrus. I actually know the designer personally as a colleague, we had lengthy discussions of his creation and its merits and weaknesses. It is similar to the Bede in some ways. He did it as a self-education project. The airplane itself had a lot of bugs but with enough tweaking it could have been a kit plane in the Long E-Z tradition. Not many of my colleagues have both designed AND built their own airplanes like that. It's way harder than it looks.

Is that person who made this from PA?

No love for:
Welcome to Maverick Jets - The World Leader in Personal Jets

???

Not sure where John is from. I think he was working at Scaled Composites when he did this airplane though.

Eclipse 550 Debuts

(11/3, F. George, Aviationweek) Plenty of diehard Eclipse 500 skeptics scoffed at Mason Holland, chairman and CEO of Eclipse Aerospace, when he announced at the 2011 NBAA Convention that his firm intended to resume building the aircraft sometime in 2013. Cynics all but buried the very light jet (VLJ) concept after EA500 production stopped in 2008, writing it off as a misguided, overhyped folly of Vern Raburn, founder of failed Eclipse Aviation (See Fast Five, page 25.) But Holland believes the original aircraft had great potential value, if only Eclipse Aviation had finished its development. For instance, the Eclipse 500 lacked certification for flight into known ice, a full-function flight guidance system and a true FMS, among its other shortcomings. Now Holland will get the chance to prove his premise because he really is restarting the assembly line in Albuquerque, N.M., and the new production aircraft will not only deliver on 100% of the promises of the original aircraft, it will offer several new features. Accordingly, the improved aircraft has a new designator — Eclipse 550 — and will be priced at $2.695 million in 2011 dollars. That should make it at least $1 million less expensive than the Embraer Phenom 100, the next lowest priced twin turbofan light jet...

HondaJet Likely To Be First Of A Family

(10/7, G. Larson, Aviationweek) As Honda Aircraft begins its sixth year, it is advancing cautiously but relentlessly toward the 2012 scheduled certification of its $4.5 million HA-420 HondaJet. One pacing item for the airplane’s overall approval is its turbofan engine, the HF-120. A product of GE Honda Aero Engines, the powerplant, equipped with a full authority digital engine control (Fadec), first ran in 2009 and became available for testing on a conformal aircraft for the first time in 2010. Its developers report “steady progress” and expect to receive FAA certification of the 2,095-lb.-thrust engine by year-end. Although the aircraft program has been delayed by more than a year, the Honda organization appears to be unhurried—paced, no doubt, by the precipitous drop in the global economy and subsequent fall-off in light-jet sales. Meanwhile, it continues to be guarded about the precise health of the order book, which has stood at “over 100” for years now...

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Cirrus Aircraft’s [SF50 personal jet] Vision becoming reality

(02/28/13, General Aviation News, J. Wood) After years of stagnation, development of Cirrus Aircraft’s Vision SF50 jet is full steam ahead. Introduced at AirVenture in Oshkosh in 2006, the jet’s first flight was in 2008. Then came the economic collapse and the company’s search for new capital, resulting in the sale of Cirrus to China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA). With backing from its new owners, the company was able to revive the Vision SF50 program, setting it on a path towards certification “before the end of 2015,” according to Dale Klapmeier, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “This has been a long, long program,” he acknowledged recently. “I like to say we’ve been going at the speed of cash.” He admits it’s “not as fast as I’d like,” but reports the company is making progress on the $1.9 million jet, touted as a personal jet designed to fill a niche between piston singles and twins and the Very Light Jet (VLJ). The V-tail jet, which will offer seating for up to five adults and two children, will be powered by a Williams International FJ33 engine and will feature a Garmin glass panel. Other standard features include air conditioning, reclining seats, a pilot “quick-don” emergency oxygen system, and a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). A new ballistic parachute system is being developed for the jet, building off the improved parachute system just debuted in the company’s Generation 5 models...

It isn't reality until its actually on the market......look at the piper jet, diamond jet......eclipse is sorta there

I think they're pretty serious about this airplane and I was contacted about a flight test desk job for it. Problem is I am chasing other rainbows or I would be there now. I suspect it will be an excellent airplane for light aircraft pilots to use to transition into jets. The idea of a single engine jet is a bit debatable though, I saw some SETP symposium lectures given by a senior Piper test pilot on the PiperJet who made it sound workable, but thrust line was an issue. PiperJet had an issue with some things like nose down moments, this one seems to have worked it out pretty well.

I can't 'splain it but the PiperJet looks good to me, even if it's in an ugly duckling kind of way. Of course single engine jet is forever debatable.

New Cirrus Jet Prototype Set for Unveiling Soon

(B. Whitfield, 04/23/13, Flying) The first production-conforming version of the much-anticipated Cirrus Jet is slated to roll out by the end of this year, with flight testing to begin in 2014. Since the first Cirrus Jet prototype was unveiled in 2008, the program has completed more than 600 flight hours. Cirrus is currently building the newest prototype — the first of three production-conforming airplanes slated for testing — with data gleaned from those flight evaluations. Cirrus initially began accepting deposits for the Vision Jet in 2006, but the program struggled for funding in the years that followed as the financial downturn descended on general aviation. The CAIGA buyout of Cirrus in 2011 breathed new life into the program, providing needed financial resources as well as access to the burgeoning aviation market in China. Cirrus says more than 500 orders for the single-engine jet have poured in. A report in a Chinese newspaper cites Meng Xiangkai, chairman of CAIGA — the state-owned Chinese corporation that took ownership of Cirrus Aircraft in 2011 — as stating the price for early buyers of the Cirrus Jet has been set at $1.8 million, but that the cost could rise to $2 million as the jet nears delivery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I knew this was coming, a slide in the whole program. They may choose to certify the airplane using P&Ws or Williams off-the-shelf equipment to save face.

HA-420 HondaJet Engine Certification Delayed To Late 2014.

Flight International (5/8, Trimble) reports, "Honda Aircraft says today that certification of the HA-420 HondaJet is delayed by roughly one year to late-2014 as development of the light jet's all-new engine continues to fall behind schedule." The article notes that Honda would not explain what exactly caused the delay. The article also noted that because most companies develop a new airframe and propulsion system at different times, it was "ambitious" for Honda Aircraft to produce these simultaneously. Production has also been "particularly difficult" over the years as "the turbofan failed a critical ice slab test in a certification trial in February 2011, which delayed the project by one year already."


One of the first G3000 cockpits...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
Wings Mated on First Production Cessna Citation M2

(P. Bergqvist, 05/09/2013, Flying) Cessna employees in Independence, Kansas, had reason to celebrate this week as the first production Citation M2 fuselage was attached to its wings. “This is the moment when we can see an aircraft take shape, and we hope it is equally exciting for our customers who want to start flying their M2,” said Dick Friesen, Cessna value stream manager for the Mustang and M2. The next phase for the M2 is engine mounting and functional testing of the hydraulics, flight controls and Intrinzic Flight Deck, which includes Garmin’s touch-screen G3000 integrated avionics system. Cessna claims it is on target to achieve certification for the Citation M2 in the second half of this year and the first production airplane will likely be delivered shortly thereafter. With a starting price of $4.395 million, the M2 fills the slot between Cessna’s entry level jet — the Citation Mustang — and the Model 525 CJ2+, a slot previously occupied by the CJ1+, which was taken out of production in 2011...

Flanker----Pride Air

update on Hondajet
 

Glad to see this sticking point (Honda's turbine engine) is finally near completion. They were looking at an interim solution of hanging Pratts on these airplanes, so it looks like the GE-Honda engine is more likely to be the sole powerplant. Honda is and always has been primarily an engine company, so this is appropriate considering their colorful history in that field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

HondaJet Engine Closing in on Certification

(P. Bergqvist, 10/22/13, Flying) The much much anticipated HondaJet, which has been trudging toward certification since it first flew nearly a decade ago, is finally getting to the home stretch as the HF120 engine that will power the twinjet is nearing certification. With an emphasis on the word "all," Terry Sharp, president of GE Honda Aero Engines, announced that all certification testing has been completed, all reports have been submitted to the FAA and that the company has "line of sight to type certification by the end of the year."

Honda Aircraft HF120 Turbofan Gains FAA Part 33 Engine Certification.

Flightglobal (12/13, Trimble) reported that the FAA has given Part 33 certification to the Honda Aircraft HF120 turbofan engine, allowing the company to “accelerate efforts” with its HA-420 HondaJet program. Now the project is moving toward FAA type inspection authorization, which would set the “baseline” for its future airworthiness certification. The first production model is now expected to enter service late next year.

Eclipse 550 Auto Throttle, Anti-Skid Brake Systems Receive FAA STC

(02/15/2014, Aero News) The First Auto Throttle System In GA FAR Part 23 Aircraft Now Approved And Ready For Flight. The FAA has granted Supplemental Type Certification (STC) to Eclipse Aerospace for both the Auto Throttle and Anti-Skid Brake (ASB) systems for the Eclipse 550 twin-engine jet. The Auto Throttle, developed in partnership with Innovative Solutions & Support, is a first for FAR Part 23 aircraft. The lightweight ASB system is the only ASB in general aviation that does not require a complex aircraft hydraulic system, thereby reducing maintenance and allowing for simple operation with very few components. With the addition of auto throttle system, Eclipse 550 pilots will be able to select the appropriate airspeed for the autopilot to maintain and the autopilot will automatically adjust the engine's power settings in various phases of flight. Along with overspeed and underspeed protection, this new feature will greatly reduce the pilot's workload, and increase the overall safety of flight...

Cirrus Flies First Conforming Vision SF50 Jet

(S. Pope, Flying, 03/25/14) In subfreezing temperatures and buffeting winds, a Cirrus Aircraft test pilot yesterday flew the first production conforming Vision SF50 jet, taking off from Duluth International Airport at around 5 p.m. for the one-hour shakedown test. "The Vision Jet handled and performed very well and all systems functioned properly – just what you want in a first flight," said Cirrus chief test pilot Mike Stevens.

$9M for a single VLJ? Did they forget the conversion factor or something?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pilatus VLJ unveiled

(B. Whitfield, Flying, 08/052014) The Pilatus PC-24 made its initial appearance this week across the pond with the unveiling of the first twinjet prototype at Buochs Airport in Switzerland. Pilatus took the wraps off its newest creation in a fanfare-filled ceremony that included a fly-by of all the Pilatus aircraft that ever reached production in the company's 75-year history. The PC-24 prototype is the first of three to be completed and is slated to make its maiden flight in spring of next year. Powered by dual Williams FJ44-4A engines and equipped as standard with a cargo door, the PC-24 aims to deliver the versatility and ruggedness Pilatus is known for in jet form. The midsize airplane is expected to have a range of 1,800 nm and a top cruise speed of 425 knots. Orders for the $8.9 million jet have already started rolling in, with the company taking 84 orders alone at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition in Geneva this spring. Pilatus reps say they expect to achieve certification of the jet and begin deliveries in 2017.

The PC-24 is by no means a VLJ. Judging by the pics, I'd guess capable of maybe eight pax, and at least 10000# empty.

8 passengers is included in the working VLJ definition, no difference there, but it appears not to be a VLJ as mentioned at 17,750# GTOW, looks more like a CJ4 competitor.

Pilatus website