ANN RealTime Update, 1735 EST, 01.09.06: Catching many by surprise with their announcement of a new bizjet at NBAA 2005 was one thing, but the news just keeps on coming as ANN has confirmed that the first flight of the Spectrum 33 took place on Saturday, January 7th, 2006. It was a short hop to reposition the aircraft for test operations off of a longer runway in Provo, but a first flight none-the-less -- and a decidedly successful one at that.

The Spectrum 33 is a new light business jet that’s built using an next-generation, carbon-graphite construction process that gives it virtually the same size cabin as the most popular, current-production, eight to nine seat light business jets, but at a substantially lighter weight. The Spectrum 33 is designed to cruise at up to 415 knots and fly as far as 2,000 nautical miles.

Notably, it will consume half as much fuel as current-production aircraft having the same cabin, range and speed.

“This marks an important point in our development program,” said industry vet Linden Blue, who is also vice-chairman of General Atomics. Mr. Blue has previously held the positions of President and CEO of Beech Aircraft, and Executive Vice President of Gates Learjet.

“Weight reduction is key to boosting fuel efficiency and lowering operating costs. The first flight of Spectrum 33 is a testament to the dedication and hard work put in by an extremely talented team.” The aircraft was built by a Spectrum Aeronautical and Rocky Mountain Composites [RMC] joint-design team at RMC’s plant on the Springville-Spanish Fork municipal airport, about eight miles southeast of Provo, Utah.

The Spectrum 33 soared off Spanish Fork’s relatively short, 4,500 ft elevation runway in about 750 ft on its first flight, even though it was using greatly reduced takeoff thrust. It was then repositioned to the Provo, Utah airport, a landing facility with a considerably longer runway. William “Bill” Davies, Spectrum’s Chief of Flight Test and Ian Hollingsworth, another veteran test pilot, were at the controls.

“The acceleration and climb performance of the 33 is remarkable,” Davies said.

“It has excellent takeoff and landing characteristics.” He commented that the aircraft performed as expected, but that pitch control was not optimum. Spectrum’s engineers, as a result, will modify the aircraft’s flight control system to increase pitch control authority at higher speeds. In about a week, Davies and Hollingsworth will resume testing the aircraft. Davies also noted that “Provo’s longer runway will let us explore handling characteristics beyond what’s possible at Spanish Fork.”

Craig Simpson, president of RMC said that the firm’s fibeXtm material and the processes used to build the aircraft, “represent a major leap forward in aircraft structures technology compared to conventional aluminum airframes and existing composite techniques.” The fibeXtm process was pioneered by Larry Ashton, RMC’s Chairman.

About the same cabin size of Cessna’s Citation CJ-2+ and with up to ten-place seating, the Spectrum 33 offers top speeds in excess of 415-knots, non-stop range of 2,000 nautical miles yet weighs in at a remarkably low 7,300 pounds gross takeoff weight. At maximum weight, the 33 can reach its typical cruising altitude of 45,000 feet in a direct climb of only about 20-minutes.

“Low weight translates directly into higher performance and operating efficiency” Blue said, “so that was one of our top priorities. Reaching that goal called for a fresh approach to aircraft manufacturing. The materials and processes we’ve developed have their origins in conventional approaches, but we have moved beyond the current state-of-the-art,” he said.

“Our breakthrough comes in successfully adapting this technology to create a competitive business jet.”

Powered by twin Williams International FJ-334A’s, the Spectrum 33 replaces aluminum and older composites found in many existing aircraft with an advanced, next generation carbon graphite material called fibeX™. The result is a very light jet that provides the comfort of a fullsized cabin with performance that matches or exceeds any other aircraft in its class.

Preliminary Spectrum 33 Stats:

• Projected selling price: $3.65M in 2005 dollars
• Seating 1+8/9
• High Speed Cruise: 415 ktas
• Normal Cruise 45,000 ft
• Range: 2,000 nm
• Cabin height x width: 4 ft 10 in x 4 ft 10 in
• Cabin length: 18 ft
• Engines: 2x Williams FJ33-4
• Useful load: 3,865 lbs
• Payload: 2,000 lbs

Once comprehensive testing of the current proof-of-concept aircraft is complete, Spectrum Aeronautical will freeze the design and build production conforming flight test aircraft to be used for certification testing. FAA Type Certification of the Spectrum 33 is slated for late 2007 or in 2008.

FMI: www.spectrum.aero