"The more I find out, the less I know."
|
Weather at the Frozen North
This is my personal blog. My professional blog is The Customer Service Survey I've written a book called Gourmet Customer Service. You can buy it on Amazon. (in)Frequently Asked Questions AIM Screen Name: DFNfrozenNorth
Categories
Statistics
Last Updated: Aug 07, 2008 03:29 PM
|
Friday - July 28, 2006 at 02:58 PM inBig news in little jets
Exciting news this week for anyone who dreams of tooling around in the flight levels in front of a couple turbine engines.
First, the Eclipse 500, the first of a new class of "Very Light Jets" has received preliminary FAA certification, with final certification expected in a few weeks. The Eclipse is a six-seat twin jet which sells for under $1.5 million (though originally it was supposed to sell for under $1 million, but inflation and design challenges have taken their toll). This is a big deal because a lot of naysayers thought it was impossible to build an FAA-certified jet for under $5 million or so. Eclipse already has a backlog of thousands of orders, enough to keep them busy for years. Next up, Honda announced a partnership with Piper to develop and build the HondaJet, another Very Light Jet. The HondaJet won't be the first (or second or third) VLJ to make it to market, but this announcement is significant for two reasons. First, Honda has been playing with the idea of building a jet for two decades, building several prototypes during that time, but never commercialized it because the company didn't think the market was ready. Now, apparently, they think the market is ready. Second, Honda brings a level of resources and manufacturing expertise unheard-of in the aviation industry. Keep in mind that even the most advanced aircraft manufacturers still pretty much build airplanes by hand. Finally, there were rumors of a new supersonic jet, the Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST) being designed by Lockheed Martin for a group called Supersonic Aviation International. Supersonic bizjets have existed as paper airplanes for years, but never built. Perhaps this time will be different--in which case, I'll have to update my Christmas wish list from a Citation X (currently the fastest civilian aircraft flying) to the QSST. Posted at 02:58 PM | Permalink | | | |