Talked with my friend today who also worked at Adam aircraft with me, and he said the A-700 is certified up to FL410.

As for orders, I saw an article a few days ago that said Eclipse already has 2,350 orders for their VLJ, which costs $1.3 million dollars.

The articles I have read have the Eclipse being used as a business mans shuttle. Get to the meeting by going from a small airport to another small airport. Do not remove your shoes for the metal detector and do pass go and collect 200 dollars. DayJets (www.dayjet.com) is starting up in florida. They are going to use the jet for a mini taxi type program. It looks promising and I do think once the insurace issue is worked out the business traveler will jump ship from the airlines to the "taxi" service. If you could leave in the morning fly 500 miles away. Have a meeting and be home by dinner, who would want to waste 4 hours in a terminal dealing with the TSA, and then the connecting flight. It is a great business plan. I just hope it works

One thing nice about these Entry Level Jets is a person can leave when they want to. Go where they want to. No sitting in an Airbus or Boeing on the tarmac for 8-10 hours! That is right, let's not forget TSA.

I am wondering if these VLJs re going to be the next Bonanza/Baron doctor killers. Having a professional pilot(s) in the front seats is one thing, but how many are going to think they can handle them in RVSM airspace?

They scare me.

Rick

No, they are not going to be, no more than the turboprops and small jets that are out there currently. The insurance company will kill the dreams of many wana-be jet pilots, just like they have been doing for years.
People (non-pilots mostly) who hear "1.5 million dollar jet" have a mental picture of getting a Encore, 31a, or a Beechjet kind of plane, and are disapointed when they see that a VLJ is the size of a Baron. "Air Taxi" is not new, it is what Air Charter was called until the mid 80s. The "pay only for the occupied leg" is not a breakthrough. It means people will pay double for the time they are in the airplane. "Fly into small airports not packed with airline traffic." Where? Teterboro, Van Nuys, Ft. Lauderdale Exec? Oh yeah, no traffic at those places.
It may oppen up the rural country to more jet activity however.

VLJs will fill a unique place, and open up some opportunity, but the sky will not be blackened with them.

I don't understand this "shared ride" "by the seat on demand" thing. Is this not basically an airline if you are sharing a plane with complete strangers? What if you are the only person that needs to go where you want when you want? Do you have to pay more then?

Pilot qualifications per the website:
Minimum Qualifications

To be able to deliver the best customer experience in regional travel, DayJet pilots must meet the following minimum qualifications:

3,000 hours flight time (excluding helicopter, simulator and flight engineer time)
1,000 hours as Pilot-in-Command (PIC)
1,000 hours multi-engine
500 hours turbo-jet PIC
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certification
Current FAA First Class Medical Certificate
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radio License
Valid passport with the ability to travel in and out of the U.S.
Valid U.S. driver’s license
Must pass a ten (10) year background check and pre-employment drug test

AOPA had an article on vljs a few months ago in the May 2006 copy, where they made the point that vlj engineering isn't at all new. Cessna had a viable vlj design in the late 1950s, the 407. It was a modified T-37 Tweetybird that carried 4 people at FL450 and went over 400 kts. It was to be single pilot certified as well. New engineering in the areas of composites, high byass turbines, and better avionics have taken place since then but amount to improvements on a theme not really a new theme. So the question in my mind is, why now? If anything the answer is that the combination of all these things, such as lower costs of manufacture, easier single-pilot ops due to better avionics, and greater efficiency make now the time. The demand was there but the airplane was not.

Say hello to my Little Friend.

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Someone smudged my panel!!!!

In the end, I believe it'll be worth the wait to walk through this door (and wait we have)

The Airworthiness should be issued this week on my company's plane. As things unfold I hope to share more about it.