So it finally flies!!!! Avweb has a very nice write-up about it. It's just exciting to me because I work for a Piper/Socata dealer and this is hopefully my future type-rating, albeit about 3 years down the road probably.

YouTube - Piper PiperJet First Flight Test

Is it just me or did that appear to take-off in 2000 ft. Not bad!

Odd-looking airplane... but that is typical for the VLJs (HondaJet, Eclipse, D-Jet, TheJet, etc.)

Here is a good link comparing them: VLJ Aircraft Industry News and Information - VLJ Comparison

Funny to see the guy struggle with the ice-chest at the end of that video :-)

That's an ugly plane. Like a pre-pubescent DC-10.

Cirrus wins the looks contest by a mile.

CE

Wrong number of engines.

Leave it to piper to mess up the dumping of a water cooler on someone.

REALLY?!? The DC-10 has more than ONE ENGINE!!!

DO TELL!!!

Someone please get this guy a job at FedEx

CE

geez folks. Guess no one here ever flew a single engine flying boat (parasol mounted engine). With only one engine, there aren't too many places to mount it and maintain centerline thrust.

Or maybe Piper could have built something like the BV 141
STRANGE GERMAN WWII PLANE - BV141

On a serious note, how does the engine placement affect mx?

I hope they have some kind of system to mandate a transponder being turned on during flight - weight on wheels or however they want to do it. A sub $1M jet makes me wonder if we'll see a more reckless crowd flying these things around - qualified or not.

man that's fugly :s
seen better vlj