Any Day Now...

A long time in the birthing phase, Aerocomp's long awaited kit-built jet is poised to take to the skies after a little more taxi testing. So far, under the command of Test Pilot Ron Lueck (who has been the veteran assigned to many other first time flights on a number of large kit-built turbine aircraft), the bird has been zooming up and down the runway at Merritt Island, working it's way up to 65 knots in order to make sure that all systems are ready for flight.

Ron says the bird feels good so far, accelerating to 65 knots in as little as 400-500 feet, and offering good braking and directional control on the ground. Powered by a single AI-25 powerplant with 3400 pounds of thrust available for take-off and with a huge wing, Ron expects the bird to stay on the ground for only a brief time, once he pours some serious jet fuel into the beast.

Designed to be something of a "poor" man's corporate jet, the "CA-J" is The "CA-J" offers seating for 8 and a projected cruise speed of 400 mph TAS @ 22K'. The kit's airframe uses a proprietary carbon-fiber hybrid sandwich to loft an impressive 8900 lb. max. gross takeoff weight with a projected 4500 lb. empty weight. Useful load for the CA-J is expected to be in the 4400 lb. range.

The CA-J carries 480 gallons of fuel... which should result in a range of 1100 SM. Pressurized, the cabin will be capable of maintaining 10K cabin altitude at the airplane's 29,900' service ceiling. Built to be as roomy as it's piston and turboprop forebears, the CA-J offers a comfortable 70" tall, 68" wide cabin.

Power for the CA-J is the department of a single factory-reman'd 3000 hr TBO AI-25 Jet (Bypass) engine (the same you'll find in the highly regarded L-39) rated for 3400 lbs. takeoff thrust and 2500 lbs. of cruise thrust. Cruise fuel consumption is expected to be about 160 gph. Future versions of the bird are expected to be adaptable to P&W JT12-8 or CJ610 powerplants.

Aerocomp is committed to a safe and conservative flight test program... but if there are no hiccups or delays, it is possible that the machine could make it's flying debut at Oshkosh -- less than 4 weeks away. We'll keep you updated as to the progress of this intriguing (and aggressive) project.

FMI: www.aerocompinc.com