Cirrus Design’s The Jet is a next-generation aircraft planned as a transition from the Cirrus SR22.
The jet is not intended to compete with very light jets like the Eclipse 500 and the Cessna Citation Mustang. It is intended for the personal use market and will be comparable to the Diamond Aircraft Industries D-Jet. It will have a parachute, as all Cirrus have, and will be made of a composite material. Certification expected in the next few years.
Cirrus is currently taking $100,000 deposits for the jet. Initially, as a public relations exercise, the company gave deposit holders a drawing of the jet in the form of a jigsaw puzzle, one piece at a time. On June 28, the entire puzzle was completed, and the Cirrus Jet configuration was unveiled.
The Jet will seat seven people. The cockpit will have two seats, and the second row will have two seats as will the third row. There will be a seat that can slide between the second and third row. The Jet will have two doors, and the parachute will be located in the nose.
Mooney Airplane Company has delivered the first Acclaim Type S—the fastest single engine production piston airplane in the world—to an Illinois dentist. The Acclaim Type S was introduced by Mooney in October of 2007.
Priced at $599,500, it is powered by a Teledyne Continental Motors IO 550-G engine and equipped with dual Kelly Aerospace turbochargers that allow it to maintain sea level manifold pressure all the way to its service ceiling of 25,000 feet. Its top cruise speed of 242 knots is five knots faster than the original Acclaim and results from a series of refinements that have notably increased its performance.
While its maximum speed is attained at FL250, the Acclaim Type S still operates at near turbine speeds at a more common cruising altitude of 16,000 feet, where it can still exceed 220 KTAS. It comes equipped with Garmin’s G1000 integrated avionics suite and GFC 700 autopilot as standard. A TKS anti-icing system is also available, making it the only airplane in its class approved for flight into known icing conditions.
A cadre of senior management from airlines that changed the rules in commercial aviation are now expecting to change the way people own and operate private jets.
Through JetSuite, private jet owners can fly their planes whenever they want and yet still receive $25,000 per month in return for allowing the company to charter the aircraft out to others during any downtime.
JetSuite was founded by Alex Wilcox, one of the founding team members at JetBlue Airways.
Swiss producer of single engine aircrafts Pilatus have introduced the PC-12 NG – where the NG stands for “Next Generation”. As the name suggests, this is the successor to the top-selling PC-12.
The spacious passenger aircraft, with room for nine, has been upgraded to make this NG the largest member of the Pilatus family.
A more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engine allows the aircraft to climb up to 30,000 feet. It also boasts a fully integrated Honeywell Primus Apex avionics system. This is topped off by an aesthetically pleasing cockpit design by BMW Group Designworks USA.[...]
Even its hefty $3.78 million price tag has not been a deterrent, and the PC-12 NG is already more popular than the first. In fact, demand is so high that it is already sold out till the end of 2009.