July 3 marked the first flight, a 45-minute jaunt, of Cirrus
Design's The-Jet -- the company says the five-plus-two seat aircraft
"performed flawlessly." The first aircraft is dubbed "V1" for
verification and validation testing. It, like other Cirrus aircraft,
flies with a full-plane parachute -- unlike other Cirri, The-Jet is
powered by a Williams FJ33-4A-19. Performance targets are 300 ktas at
25,000 feet, range was not specified in Cirrus' latest release. Cirrus
Chairman and CEO, Alan Klapmeier set the bar for the aircraft at
holding "the unique promise of redefining general aviation." Aimed at
owner-pilots, if The-Jet hits the mark it will be simple to fly and
wrap efficient single-jet operation in a package that offers more
flexibility and "more lifestyle pursuits" than other aircraft. The-Jet
recently completed wind tunnel tests at Langley and has been further
tested to substantiate the structural load capacities of its
sub-assemblies.
Cirrus says the aircraft marks the first application of the v-tail on a major consumer aircraft in 60 years and touts its backpack engine mount design as a common sense solution that keeps the engine outside of the fuselage structure and though it employs vectored thrust, "makes for smooth handling and excellent engine efficiency."
Article extracted from AVweb