| Some of the brightest entrepreneurial minds on the | | | | The commoditization of these Very Light Jet air-taxi |
| planet have converged to bring us a new way to get | | | | seats will make this travel option available to |
| there. | | | | progressively larger segments of air travelers. |
| These guys promise exciting new options on the | | | | The aircraft at the heart of this breakthrough |
| terminal horizon of our future commercial air travel | | | | technology will have one or two engines, glass |
| vacations and business trips! The hub-and-spoke | | | | cockpits, and seats for four to nine passengers. Their |
| system of air travel has become outdated. Flying | | | | range will be over 1000 miles and they will fly at a |
| through Atlanta to get to anywhere on the planet is | | | | speed of 340 to 380 knots and up to FL410. The |
| routine. | | | | turbofans that power these rockets produce 700 to |
| National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) Fact | | | | 1700 pounds of thrust and weigh 200 to 300 pounds! |
| Book 2004 reports that 30 out of the 550 commercial | | | | The VLJs will be certified and equipped to fly with a |
| airports in the U.S. account for 70% of all of our air | | | | single pilot but most of the planes will likely be flown |
| travel. Our skies are crowded around many major | | | | with a crew of two. |
| airports and the air traffic control system is rapidly | | | | NASA's General Aviation Propulsion Program (GAP) |
| approaching capacity. NBAA also reports that there | | | | ran from 1996 until 2002 on a mission to deliver a |
| are 5300 available satellite airports in the U.S. Many of | | | | selection of vastly improved performance-to-price ratio |
| these underused airports could be used by small jets | | | | General Aviation engines. |
| to relieve this situation. "Very Light Jet" air transport | | | | NASA and Williams International participated in the |
| technology is on track to make this a reality. | | | | turbine portion of the GAP cooperative agreement |
| Very Light Jets are identified by other names including | | | | and developed the FJX-2 turbofan. This prototype |
| VLJs, Microjets, and Personal Jets. Their | | | | engine weighed 85 pounds and ultimately produced |
| manufacturers are scheduled to begin deliveries | | | | over 700 pounds of thrust with a thrust-to weight ratio |
| worldwide within the next twelve months. With | | | | over 8.2, the highest in commercial turbofan history! |
| manufacturers reporting advance sales of thousands | | | | The FJX-2 program inspired the development of the |
| of these new planes, their customers are comprised | | | | GE/ Honda HF118, Pratt & Whitney Canada |
| of owner/ pilots, air-taxi fleet and charter operaters, | | | | PW615F, and Williams International FJ33, which are the |
| private owners, and fractional providers. | | | | production engines for the Very Light Jets. There are |
| Very light jets are considered to be a new category | | | | also many military applications for these new engines |
| of plane because of their smaller cabin size compared | | | | beyond their use in commercial aviation. |
| to other business jets and they weigh less than 10,000 | | | | The aircraft are in various stages of manufacture and |
| lbs. They are also powered by a group of newly | | | | certification. Adam Aircraft Industries, Avocet, Aviation |
| developed and smaller jet engines. | | | | Technology Group, Cessna, Diamond Aircraft, Eclipse, |
| Many groups are planning to compete for a piece of | | | | Embraer, Epic, Eviation, Excel-Jet, Honda-Jet, Maverick, |
| this new way to travel. These entrepreneurial efforts | | | | Scion, Spectrum, and others are at the starting line. |
| include a team headed by Donald C. Burr, founder in | | | | Which manufacturers will win the high-stakes race? |
| 1980 of the former airline, People Express. On March | | | | What about our future vacations and business travel? |
| 29 Burr, his son Cameron, and associates made a | | | | Will we be comfortable in these small Very light jets? |
| Securities and Exchange Commission filing for their | | | | Will our kids miss running up and down the aisles and |
| Very Light Jet Company, POGO. | | | | harassing the flight attendants? Will our spouses |
| Burr says "our intent here is to bring the private-travel | | | | complain about the size of the bathrooms- and will we |
| market down from CEO level to manager-level | | | | miss those hours spent at the Atlanta Hartsfield |
| people." The reported pricing plan of POGO is to | | | | airport? |
| provide a $3 to $4 a mile travel experience. This fare | | | | Stay tuned! |
| structure compares to retail first-class on most flights. | | | | |