AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 46

PILOT BRIEFING SJ30 jet to continue Flying car market gains competitors
here already is competition in the flying car market, despite there being none ready for delivery. First, there is the Terrafugia flying car near Boston that has flown, with more flights to come in 2012. Then came news that Burt Rutan designed a flying car long ago that has now flown in California. That one is in limited development at Rutan’s old company, Scaled Composites. Next comes the Carplane, a German project that hasn’t flown yet, but looks similar to the Rutan project. Already there are competing claims, with Carplane manager John Brown suggesting Rutan’s measurements are off, and Rutan saying he will wait for a fly-off competition between the two. The Carplane is not expected to fly for four years, but there are models of it. It will not be shown publicly until it is ready.
After months of silence from the new owner of the SJ30 jet type certificate, manufactured in the past by Sino Swearingen and Emivest, Metalcraft Technologies says the company will continue under the name SyberJet. The company uses the name MT, LLC. SyberJet officials have moved the Martinsburg, West Virginia, assembly line to its facilities in Cedar City, Utah, and is continuing operations in a remaining San Antonio building. Mark Fairchild, the company spokesman and test pilot under past owners, is now the SyberJet general manager in San Antonio. “SyberJet has a solid operating plan to deliver new SJ30s to the world marketplace,” Fairchild said. “I look forward to providing more people the unique opportunity to experience the high performance capability that SJ30 affords its owners and operators.”

“Nothing like this aircraft has been done before,” Brown said. “So I’m very reluctant to estimate how long it might take. We usually answer ‘2015 at the earliest.’ What’s taking [the] most time is calibrating the aerodynamic switch-over from positive lift to negative lift. Every time we optimize for road mode, it affects air mode and vice versa. The moveable surfaces (canard, wings, empennage) aren’t so much of a problem. It’s the remainder of the vehicle which needs to be optimized in a ‘grand compromise’ for both modes. We’re also tweaking the propulsion systems, thermal management, and overall weight.” Unlike the Terrafugia and Rutan designs, the wings are manually folded by the owner, treating each wing like a wheelbarrow and securing it against the side of the car.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011