It’s remarkable to think that the market opportunities that have spawned today’s rush towards the creation of small and efficient jets were being explored by a figure whose name rippled through the industry, albeit briefly, in the 1970s.
 
Few may remember the name, fewer still the reasons behind his creation, but to read his promotional literature today is to recognize that Tony Fox and his compact little Foxjet were 20 years ahead of their time. Prompted by the concern over dwindling energy resources, Fox set out to revolutionize personal and corporate air travel by attempting to bring significant cost-to-operate savings to small jet aircraft travel where none existed at the time.

The Foxjet’s features would lower manufacturing costs to bring about affordable purchase prices, slash fuel burn rates, and provide short-field and soft-field capability in a jet airframe that could now get its occupants into 9,000 airports across America to where they didn’t have access before.

Single-pilot operation was central to the concept and on-demand air taxi service was touted as part of the jet’s embryonic landscape. Bypassing crowded airports and eliminating reliance on commercial airline schedules or routes were further benefits swirling metaphorically in the Foxjet’s Williams fanjet engine nacelles.

If some of these propositions and suppositions ring of recent familiarity, it’s probably because you’ve read the same regarding Eclipse and several of its challengers, all of which are jockeying for position in this emerging sector of the industry known as the VLJ (Very Light Jet) or PLJ (Personal Light Jet) market.

Although a handful of prototypes were built and a reasonable amount of engineering development was undertaken, Tony Fox’s dream never left the ground in either the literal nor figurative sense. An effective marketing campaign snared close to $1 million in deposits, the first of which came from none other than Bill Lear, founder of Lear Jet.

What pitched the Foxjet concept into a ground-loop that sent it to its eventual scrapyard foreshadowed the tribulations of today’s manufacturers who strive to placate the same germinating market. Two decades ago, Tony Fox, as deep as his pockets were, got ensnared by the costly start-up environment coupled with the lack of a suitable engine. If not for a hastily enacted Plan B, its resilience and resources, today’s commonly perceived VLJ leader, Eclipse, may well have replicated verbatim the Foxjet story.

Foxjet is not the only anecdote of a manufacturer’s attempt to bring jet technology and accessibility within the personal aviator’s realm. Personal or very light jets — typically defined as carrying one to six seats, less than 10,000 lbs, economical and efficient, single-pilot operable, priced just above a high-end piston, with performance exceeding anything comparable in size and weight — have been attempted since the dawn of jet flight. The few newborns that emerged never got beyond infancy. Others were conclusively stillborn. Many were victims of ineffectual engine performance capable of meeting stated project objectives, and all may have lacked long-range commitment and commensurate financing.

Now, the snake pits of yesterday’s visionaries have become the launch silos of today’s jet-age revolutionaries. Lessons learned, long-range planning and commitment, deeper resources and reliable technology have transformed the attempts of yesterday into the breakthroughs of today. A shake-up of the way we plan our travels is the final crucial element that light jet entrepreneurs of the present require for their new products to become the standards in air transportation for tomorrow.

Here’s a look at the major players of the moment who are setting the pace in the VLJ/PLJ race.

Eclipse Aviation
They need almost no introduction; such is the rocket-propelled media machine that has kept the world abreast of this highly-vaunted leader in the VLJ class of aircraft manufacturers. While they’ve taken some flak for their grandiloquent ways, they’ve been commendably honest about their setbacks and shortcomings in their surge to head the field in light-jet technology.

Lead by an aviation-impassioned Vern Raburn — as determined and savvy an executive as you’ll ever find in modern-day business life — Eclipse has led from the start in identifying the business need, describing the conceptual market and defining the prerequisites of any aircraft destined to establish itself in the class.

Stimulated by initiatives, such as the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) and NASA’s General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program of the 1990s, this latter effort to foster development into smoother and quieter engines for light aircraft has returned engine builders to their drawing boards, and spurred thinkers of Raburn’s imagination into action. The result, after seven highly-scrutinized years underscored by significant corporate milestones offset by occasionally public product meltdowns, is the Eclipse 500, which received almost full typer certification in late September (known icing and over-water certification will come later) and is expected to begin customer deliveries by the end of this year.

The loudest case for the Eclipse offensive is stacked in their battle plan to claim dominance over a flourishing of air taxi service providers that, for the most part, exist as extravagant theoretical business models in the minds of their entrepreneurial founders. While these models gain momentum towards confirming their credibility, Eclipse has pushed ahead with its plans, having placed itself smartly into a position to build and deliver customer aircraft soon after receiving the type certificate it so resolutely fought for.

The Eclipse 500 itself is an elegant, if straight-forward, design in outward appearance. Engineering of the aircraft took into account anticipated high-volume production, thus steering the company’s energies towards lean manufacturing practices in an effort to minimize production costs and lower ultimate selling prices for buyers. Innovation has been a hallmark of their processes, their highly-touted friction stir welding technique especially contributing to a smooth and seamless finished product, while concurrently advancing, in a general sense, the way future metal airframes may be built.

A 370-knot maximum cruise speed, a 41,000 ft operational ceiling and a 1,125 nautical mile IFR range encapsulate performance figures for the Eclipse 500. Its MTOW is 5,950 lbs while its useful load weighs in at 2,414 lbs. Its 69 kts stall speed brings a valuable safety margin into a critical phase of flight and its takeoff and landing distances (2,300 ft and 2,150 ft, respectively) will get it into and out of most airports in North America.

With an interior as plush as the finest of high-end automobiles, a maximum capacity of six occupants (pilot included) this beauty can climb to their altitude at 3,300 ft/minute with a mildly audible noise emission that is lower than the most stringent of ICAO standards. “It’s a community friendly airplane,” has stated CEO Vern Raburn. Neighbours of the airport ought not to complain about its noise.

The engines propelling the Eclipse 500 to these performance figures are two of the ubiquitous 900-lb-thrust FADEC-controlled Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofan engines. The PWC engine became a lifeboat for the whole project after Eclipse dumped the William EJ22 as its powerplant, citing performance deficiencies. The Pratts, though more costly, have performed flawlessly and allowed the company to recover from a fiasco that could have buried it. Four years later, it’s a forgotten blip in the company’s evolution. Tumultuous though it was at the time, long-time Raburn business associate and friend, Bill Gates, stepped in to see the company through the damaging wake turbulence necessitated by the powerplant swap. This set Eclipse on its way to a remarkable reversal of fortunes that has since brought the most prized award in aviation, the Collier Trophy.

Eclipse’s staff numbers are pushing towards 1,000. This significant number may well be clad in assembly-line garb to meet an order book that, itself, is nearing 2,500 aircraft. Four aircraft per day is their stated manufacturing objective, while a network bringing service within one hour of most operators is being aggressively put into place. For $1.48 million, you can take a spot in line to receive your personal VLJ from a company that has started the ball rolling for these new small jets. Eclipse has surmounted its challenges and overcome its detractors in bringing its 500 to certification. The aircraft stands for a lot in the history of this class of transportation. It will also stand as a monument to the persistence that got it to this point.

Cessna Aircraft
One would usually not think of Cessna as a threat to anyone’s coronation, since it is they who usually rule over the skies. Yet, a wind is gathering at their Kansas state home, which  could see Cessna’s Citation Mustang clip everything in its path as it sweeps relentlessly towards production and sales.

A juggernaut compared to its competitors, this company is entering a new market, which is projected to have limited boundaries.

The VLJ race may have truly become serious when Cessna announced their intention to launch an entry into the field. Unlike Eclipse, which had the monstrous task of starting from scratch, Cessna had no such issues to deal with. Instead, applying their proven track record from their solid jet lineup, their Mustang’s development followed a well worn path  from concept to flight.

Bearing the common and elegantly contoured look of all other jets bred in its stable, the Mustang breaks little ground in its engineering and design, which has helped it towards a shorter incubation period. Cessna usually gets its sums right from the start and, as stated at its initial announcement in 2002, it had a goal of certification by the end of 2006. Of all the manufacturers capable of pulling together a Type Certificate in a projected time, Cessna not only positioned itself on the cusp of reaching their goal early, but managed to achieve full certification in September 2006.

For jets in the VLJ class, a comparative glance at performance figures makes for interesting matching. The Cessna Mustang has a projected cruise speed of 340 KTAS, a 41,000 ft ceiling altitude limit and a 1,300 nm distance (with 45 minute reserves) as its IFR range. It needs 3,100 ft of runway to takeoff, weighed down at its MTOW of 8,645 lbs. Its useful load figure is 3,180 lbs. If compared only to Eclipse’s 500, it will go further but get there slower, and carry more to its destination, so long as it departs from a longer strip of tarmac.

Pratt & Whitney Canada got the nod again as the engine of choice for the Cessna Mustang’s power. The FADEC-controlled PW615F turbofan is rated to 1,350 lbs of takeoff thrust and is cited as having significantly reduced ownership costs resulting from 40 per cent fewer parts in its makeup.

By late summer 2006, Cessna had at least 15 of its six-place Mustangs working their way onto the production line with first customer deliveries anticipated for early 2007. Nearly 250 orders stood on their books in mid-2006, guaranteeing their sell-out until late 2009. A full 60 per cent of these orders are from outside the U.S. and  30 per cent are from Europe alone.

Designed like other interiors in the class, a sport-sedan style identifies the Mustang, as does a premium price tag of $2.6 million. Considering the lineage, the track record and performance to date, the conservative projections made by Cessna for the Mustang may create a waiting list they have to address.

Adam Aircraft
The 2006 summer release of the movie, Miami Vice, may have swept Adam Aircraft into the consciousness of the those who crave celluloid for their doses of visual entertainment. With its atypical twin-boom profile, the aerial prop in this popular Hollywood flick spiced up the “wow factor” for its captive big-screen audience. Though the plane in the film was, in fact, the unique prop-driven, centreline-thrust A500 that brought Adam Aircraft into being, Adam’s VLJ A700 is a direct derivative of this signature design.
If “wow” was the objective of Adam Aircraft founder Rick Adam as much as it was for the producers of the movie, then commissioning renowned innovator, Burt Rutan, of Scaled Composites fame, to create his proof-of-concept was seizing the best from a list of available designers. The A500 was borne from the drawings of one of the great radical aircraft designers of our time. The A700 AdamJet is a lateral step from its propellered stablemate and, therefore, carries a lofty association to one of the greatest of living aeronautical laureates.

Adam’s march to certification for the A700 bears out a philosophy upon which the company was founded. Struck by how little new technology was making its way into aircraft designs, Rick Adam set out to light a spark under the methods of yesteryear and change the dimensions of the box within aircraft design seemed perennially stuck. Modularity was the foundation of his new way of thinking, borrowing on computer and software engineering where pull-out, replace and plug-in are mantra to the tasks of troubleshooting. By borrowing components from its propeller-driven sibling that were already in service, the first AdamJet took flight in record time. Sharing parts resulted in economies of scale, managing the development and build costs on the aircraft, and carrying it towards certification with a touch more alacrity.

By using composite throughout its construction, it saves up to 10 per cent of the weight had it been designed with an aluminum structure. Mindful of the uses for which the A700 would be expected, Adam’s made it robust. A tall and stout landing gear contributes to a ramp presence that makes it look much bigger than others in its VLJ class. The visual cue is in no way offset by the broad-standing area demarcated by twin booms, a configuration not likely seen on any jet since deHavilland’s much smaller military Vampire.

Like Eclipse and Mustang, the AdamJet’s ceiling is 41,000 ft with 340 KTAS pegged as its maximum cruise allowed by its two Williams FJ33, 1,350 lb thrust turbofan engines. An IFR range of 1,100 nm (with 45 minute reserve) is its operational range after it’s taken 2,950 ft to get off the ground carrying a payload of 725 lbs. Up to seven passengers can ride along with a single pilot in an interior modelled closely to that of a Cessna CitationJet. It beats Cessna’s Mustang for interior space and, for a sum of $2.25 million, it beats it in price as well.

AdamJet’s backlog stands at 300 units. A recent influx of significant funding should propel the project to its planned early-2007 certification.

Diamond Aircraft
This company has been around for much longer than most are aware. It got its start in 1981, building motorgliders in its founding nation of Austria. The design prerequisites for the craft being what they are — lightweight and aerodynamically efficient — Diamond is no stranger when it comes to utilizing composite technology drawn from original glider designs that they’ve since carried over to their entries into the general aviation field.
Diamond is commonly regarded as being first out of the box in so far as bringing new technology training aircraft to an industry that hadn’t seen anything significantly new in a generation. Katanas preceded Eclipses that evolved into Stars and Twin Stars, all of which carry the unique stamp of this now Canadian-based company. It should be with minimal surprise, then, that Diamond stepped boldly into an arena where a company such as itself, brimming with advanced technology expertise and thinking, could best continue to express its corporate cultural motif.

Invoked from the unique patterns of its lineage, the aircraft is playfully named Diamond D-Jet. Like most of its drawing board brethren, entry-level considerations abound. Designed to be an owner-flown aircraft, operational simplicity is staked at the forefront of this modest player in the new VLJ landscape. Safety and affordability are two extra carrots being dangled by Diamond to future buyers as they make their rounds through the showrooms of light jet manufacturers.

Of the majors plunging head-first into VLJ territory, Diamond has taken the design path least followed. Breaking from the tradition of a twin-engine mounted layout, the D-Jet sports a single powerplant tucked under its composite fuselage and positioned amidships, which is uncommon for jet designs of the past or present. Though it makes for a tall-looking aircraft when viewed from the rear, the full tidiness of the package is striking to behold, thanks to the fuselage’s tapering, which makes for as svelte an appearance as you’ll find in the class.

The engine is fed by two gracefully integrated “Y” ducts — one on each side — that curve along the aircraft’s wing-root and help to reduce compression stalls, giving life to the FADEC-controlled Williams FJ33 fanjet nestled discreetly under the hull of the aircraft. The engine chosen to power the D-Jet reflects the same choice taken by Adam, though Diamond’s claim of a 1,400 lb thrust figure is slightly higher than that claimed by its VLJ competitor.

The single-engine configuration of the D-Jet contributes to its comparatively minimal ramp weight of 5,110 lbs — 800 lbs less than the next lightest VLJ in the ring, Eclipse’s 500. The weight savings found in the design are attributed to the presence of one less engine, since the Williams FJ33 weighs in at a mere 300 lbs, as well as to the composite nose-to-tail construction, built as two half-shells bonded together.

It’s a neat-looking aircraft that is impressive for what it can do with one less engine to propel it along. Restricted to a ceiling of 25,000 ft, it will take 15 minutes to climb to that altitude after which it will cruise at 315 KTAS, taking its useful load of 2,240 lbs to a maximum range of 1,350 nm. Seating capacity is limited to five, including the pilot, with a bench seat in the back representing a cabin layout far more in common with any single-engine piston.

It is, in fact, simplicity in design that is the D-Jet’s hallmark. The plane has been designed for pilots with as little as 500 hours of flight time, so, as Diamond CEO Christian Dries says,  “It has to be easy to fly.” A landing speed of 65 kts with 40 degrees of flaps make it a manageable aircraft for approach and touchdown.

In its effort to minimize operating costs, high reliability and low maintenance are integral to the design of the D-Jet. Safety, too, was a priority for Diamond, which has set itself apart from other VLJ makers in providing its product optionally equipped with a BRS ballistic parachute on-board.

Certification for the D-Jet is anticipated from Transport Canada in the first quarter of 2008. Fifty are expected to be delivered by the end of the same year, with one unit per day from its London, ON factory being the manufacturing target by late 2009. Priced at $1.38 million, Diamond anticipates 375 to be delivered by the end of 2010.

Honda Aircraft Company
If Cessna’s development of a VLJ is an endorsement for the viability of the class, then Honda’s sublime entry into the fray may force everyone in the class into getting a Master’s Degree.

As anyone who has ever worked within the hallowed grounds of the Honda Motor Company can attest, mere market presence is not what drives development within the Japanese company. Its prevailing culture has always been not to present itself solely as a consumer’s option but, rather, to research and develop alternative engineering solutions that force discerning buyers to purchase a Honda for the sheer magnitude by which their products push competitors into the shade.

Honda’s world-wide track record in the fields of powered products is the envy of all corporate giants. This is the prime reason competitors shake when Honda announces they’re entering a new field. Honda, it is known, does not play simply to participate — it aims to dominate.

When Honda announced its intention to certify the HondaJet in the summer of 2006, it made the six o’clock news and spawned headlines in the mainstream media around the world, som. Due to the company’s reputation, media centres knew this was a story to be told.

Their design is stylish with novel aerodynamic touches. Two engines mounted on pylons, rising above and behind the inboard section of the wings, dominate the look of the jet, as does its nose, which has a profile that resembles the muzzle of a platypus.

The NLF (natural-laminar flow) nose is designed to reduce drag and generate lift. The wings are designed with the same NLF concepts. The over-the-wing engine mount eliminates structures within the fuselage that would otherwise be required with a standard engine-mounted configuration. This set-up not only increases interior cabin space, but is said by HondJet engineers to reduce high-speed drag that will lead to greater fuel efficiency.

The HondaJet was built in North Carolina, where all their flight testing has taken place. Seating allows for six or seven occupants (pilot included) and preliminary figures suggest that a maximum speed will be 420 KTAS. Its operating ceiling is 41,000 ft and its range is anticipated to be 1,100 nm.

Powering the aircraft  — in a resounding departure from all other VLJ’s hitting the skies  — are two of Honda’s own GE-Honda HF118 turbofan engines. Each rated at 1,700 lb of thrust, these potent propulsion systems have been developed jointly by Honda and General Electric in a 50/50 split that has brought about the formation of Honda Aero Inc. as a separate entity undertaking the powerplant’s development. Engine TBO is slated at 5,000 hours with a 40 gallon per hour fuel burn anticipated at high-altitude cruise.

“The HondaJet has three overall attributes,” says Michimasa Fujino, CEO of the Honda Aircraft Company. “Performance, relating to high speed and fuel efficiency; comfort, relating to the large cabin and baggage area; and quality in design and construction.” A full-composite carbonfibre airframe, the HondaJet is also being touted as affordable, though no specifics are available on its probable price.

Construction of HondaJets will take place in the US, while sales and service will be undertaken through an alliance with Piper Aircraft, Inc., thereby bringing this renowned American aircraft manufacturer onto the VLJ scene through the back door.

Incredibly, development began on the HondaJet as long ago as 1986 and a little-known Honda flying test-bed, the quirky MH-02, was airborne and accumulating data from flight hours by the early 1990s. Subtle and meticulous to the extreme, the HondaJet approach has been as purposefully and delicately planned as any new aircraft can be. If three to four years are anticipated until certification, then expect it will take exactly that long, to the day it was first publicly stated.

Embraer
From a country best known for sugar canes, carnivals, rainforests and Formula 1 racing drivers comes the Embraer. Brazilians expound on their country as being steeped in aviation history. Their stories are based heavily on the exploits of Alberto Santos-Dumont, whose experiments in flying rivalled the timeframe of Orville and Wilbur Wright.

A read of the accounts of Antoine de St Exupéry and the harrowing mail routes to Brazil he recounts will make one realize that Brazil’s aviation heritage is as long as it is proud.
Best known for its popular collection of regional aircraft  — not to mention its disputes with rival Bombardier  — Embraer has slipped into VLJ territory with the Phenom 100. The aircraft will occupy the high-end of the scale with luxurious comfort and best performance being keys in the design’s final plans. With mock-ups on tour and metal cutting well started, first flights should be seen around mid-2007, with in-service flights to follow a year later.

As figures go, the aircraft is anticipated to cruise at 380 KTAS with a maximum operating altitude of 41,000 ft. In hopes that its plans for short take off capability arise, it’s designed to takeoff from 3,400 ft of runway and set itself on its way to a 1,160 nm IFR range with four of eight seats occupied.

Initial drawings have shown an aircraft as elegant as any that’s been drawn for the class, with an appearance strongly reminiscent of Raytheon’s equally tasteful Beech Premiere I. Its two engines are Pratt & Whitney PW617Fs, FADEC-controlled and rated at 1,615 lb thrust. Price for the Phenom 100 is $2.85 million and, though first flights remain to be seen, deals have been inked that should see production ramp up the moment it’s signed off for service.

PART TWO, NEXT ISSUE
So, there is the lay of the land for the big players most likely to criss-cross the sky with their respective VLJ products. Eclipse, Cessna, Adam, Diamond and Honda — with their name recognition, engineering and marketing — are blazing contrails aloft and racking up air time as each fights for market share. Embraer, while not flying yet, is sure to claim a place among them.

Still, this gamut of entries faces more checks to come, not least with the news that Piper and Cirrus, venerable staples in the world of piston-driven singles, plan their own onslaughts into the VLJ battleground. In the next issue of Canadian Aviator, we’ll follow-up with lesser-known entrants in what has become the most significant aircraft development story of the past 50 years.