"After eight hours of successful flight testing, now with gear and flaps retracted, we have flown Sport-Jet to within 80% of projected cruise speed," indicated test pilot Ron McElroy. "The aircraft continues to exhibit excellent stability and flight handling and is just a joy to fly," he added.

"Even at lower altitudes, we are indicating 195 knots Indicated Air Speed. This figure comes while there is still plenty of available thrust left." identified Bornhofen. Based on these results, he added that the airplane should easily reach its target of 340 knots TAS at 25,000 feet.

"We now feel very confident of reaching our original performance estimates," said Bornhofen. "We are extremely pleased with the takeoff performance." Sport-Jet takeoff runway rolls are under 1,800 feet. "Even though we are deliberated using less than takeoff thrust, our ground rolls are under 12 seconds." And he reported Sport-Jet is climbing better than 2,000 feet per minute at 150 KTIAS. But Bornhofen is also quick to note that Excel-Jet operates from 6,000-foot-high Colorado Springs airport. With density altitude calculated, these speedy launches are occurring at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet.

Excel-Jet's new Sport-Jet is a single engine cabin class 4-place personal jet 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 ease pilot workload. "We have confirmation from the largest GA insurance broker in the U.S. that our approach will contribute significantly to the insurability of the aircraft when operated by nonprofessionals," reported Bornhofen. "We wanted to provide the GA pilot with a superior performance cabin class jet aircraft in a insurance-friendly platform. Our flight testing shows we are achieving that goal."

Sport-Jet will sell for about $1 million, cruise at 340 knots at 25,000 feet (above 95% of all weather), and can carry four persons for more than 900 nautical miles in a surprisingly spacious cabin.

Original Release