Treadigraph, I think thats very observant. The fact is that we love those old classic aircraft because of their timeless looks as well as performance, now we accept their shortcomings in the absence of a better new design (which is how they get to laugh all the way to the bank everytime someone orders a new Seneca or Seminole)
Otherwise, we opt for well thought out updates or conversions that are competitive with other types or fill their own niche (the Malibu Meridian or JetProp DLX for instance)
On Paper the 'Piper Jet' has some good things going for it, the Performance is good in terms of the range and the cruise speed, but at that money there doesnt appear to be anything really new here, its clearly not that adviances (the artists impression has de ice boots
) and the competition would appear to have left it behind.
In my experience most aircraft that are cobbled togeher using bits of old designs look ghastly and have little charisma when you come to operate them. Manufacturers often do this to reduce the certification costs and timescale but I dont see these benifits being passed on, Ladies and Gentlemen what we have is a Ford Mondeo for Audi A6 money.
I also get the impression that theyre struggling for something to say about it looking at the specs listed:
Auto throttle (optional)
- For HOW much?
Engine trend monitoring
FADEC engine
- Generally go hand in hand these days especially on newer engines and I'd expect this on new designs
FIKI (approved for Flight Into Known Icing)
- It worries me that they'd contemplate selling an aircraft of this nature that wasnt
Performance computer
- An FMS, part of the avionics like the G1000/Avidine they've depicted it with and as seen in averything from a PA-28 these days
again show me a new jet without and I'll send it back.
Base Price: $2.199M (in 2006 $ with a CPI-W escalator)
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That means that if it takes just two years to delivery I could be more than $2.31M before you add ANY options to it.