Upgrade your Flash Player to See This Movie

‹ Return to Press Releases

Sport-Jet Proof of Concept Aircraft Coming Together

FRONT RANGE AIRPORT, COLORADO July, 2004

Excel-Jet, based in Colorado, is starting to receive essential components as it continues work to assemble its proof of concept aircraft. A fuselage arrived from its west coast fabricator. The spar carrythrough and engine inlets have arrived from eastern Europe. Designer Bob Bornhofen is moving quickly to fit the components together in his drive to fly Sport-Jet in 2004.

Boeing and Airbus are using eastern European expertise. Pratt & Whitney has two plants in Poland. In the lightest end of aviation, FAA's new Sport Pilot rule will invite many new designs to arrive from countries like the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Slovenia. Yet so far, most Very Light Jet entries are not making good use of the expertise available in lower-cost countries.

"Instead, companies are raising huge sums of capital, hiring dozens of highly-paid workers, and erecting expensive facilities," observed Bornhofen. This is a highly inefficient use of resources, he feels, noting that he can bring many engineers together to work on design issues without having them permanently on his payroll. The kit aircraft industry has shown it is not necessary to create large organizations to create innovative aircraft. One only need look at Van's Aircraft and its large fleet of RVs for proof.

In the feverish race among companies hoping to offer their own very light jet, only two are preceded by jet aircraft designs that have actually met their design goals and performed in flight. One is Cessna with a fleet of expensive business jets. The other is Excel-Jet, the company whose leadership brought the Maverick TwinJet kit to market. At least three of these kit airplanes have exceeded 340 knots airspeed and amassed over 400 hours of flight experience, something no other very light jet aircraft has yet achieved.

Maverick designer/developer, Bob Bornhofen, indicated "Maverick passed all F.A.R. Part 23 flight tests. It wasn't certified as the Williams FJX was never brought to market. However, the TwinJet was ready for certification and Sport-Jet employs the same engineering concepts." Not a kit, Sport-Jet is aimed at winning Part 23 certification and will use an engine currently in production.

"We expect to fly the Proof of Concept aircraft currently being assembled before the end of this calendar year," said Bornhofen, president of Excel-Jet, Ltd. "We applied for certification nine months ago and are certifying parts at this time," Bornhofen added. "The international team we've assembled has the ability to gain rapid certification and production." Additional details will be released in coming months.

Excel-Jet's new model is a 4+1 seat, single-engine, all-glass aircraft aimed at the general aviation pilot. Sport-Jet has been designed for single-person operation by a pilot trained in piston-powered airplanes. Many advanced features and a simplified design eases pilot workload. "This will contribute significantly to the insurability of the aircraft when operated by nonprofessionals," added Bornhofen.

The new model, which will sell for less than $1 million, can cruise at 340 knots at 25,000 feet (above 95% of all weather). It can carry four persons over 1,000 nautical miles and will be equipped with a parachute-based supplemental emergency landing system.

Excel-Jet Ltd. is a Colorado corporation formed to bring a new generation of light jet to the market.

Download this Press Release in PDF Format