SJ30
 

Parked beside one last night, N7SJ, what a cool looking aircraft, this is the first one that i have seen, so I'm wondering how successful is this aircraft, what is the performance like? And considering the aircraft carrier style landing gear, whats it like to land?

Thanks

Mutt

There is a flight test article from Flight :

FLIGHT TEST: Emivest SJ30 - Long-range rocket

Morgan Freeman bought s/n 10 :
EMIVEST Aerospace

The actor looks pretty busy:
FlightAware > N30GZ

It used to be the fastest Corporate jet out there and very rugged construction

How many have they delivered? Half a dozen?

What's the cruising mach, range, MTOW, etc, etc.?

Range 2,500nm
Speed Mach 0.83
Ceiling: FL490

All incredible numbers for a LIGHT JET, costing in the $7.5 mil range.:D

But there's more....

Sea level cabin at FL410 and only 1,800ft at FL490...........for a Delta p of 12psi.... YUP............eat your heart out G650 drivers....:p


It's not huge, 'bijoux' is appropriate............but it is comfortable.

4 pax in the rear, and seats can berth for 2 pax

5th pax on mid cabin belted lav.....and the lav has full closing hard doors, not curtains. As this is a LONG range light jet, crew thus has access to lav without disturbing pax.

AND............

Full single pilot certified. So can put 6th pax (often owner-pilot) on RH seat in cockpit.


All the usual gadgets and things are available standard or option:
Satcom
HF (needed for world travel)
dual FMS or coupled Garmin
Mode S with diversity
Airshow


Considering the aircraft type also holds the world record from Texas to London for under 20,000lb class (and that achieved with only one stop to refuel in Goose Bay). This done before the HF was installed and thus requiring a detour on the fastest route over the Atlantic, so on another occasion they should be able to shave 30 mins off this record.

The SJ30 Jet Crosses the Atlantic Ocean Setting Several Speed and Range Records. | North America > United States from AllBusiness.com

This aircraft has a LOT to offer. Certainly on the traditional evaluation of business aircraft rationale.

ECO - Well fuel burns are frugal as well......in cruise you'll see 700-800lbs total / hour rates......typical around M0.8 so turbo-prop fuel burn at real jet speeds.

Uses nothing 'high-tech' to achieve these numbers either...so you don't become a technology guinea pig...

Williams engines, Honeywell avionics (OK the avionics could do with a re-refresh now, but still highly functional - Primus Epic based) an EFB can be offered. Essentially metal construction (very little composite) the traditional proven way. They also included full leading edge slats and fowler flaps to a 30degree sweep razor thin wing.......so fast speed as well as low approach speed handling is just fine. It's all just done well.


There you go.........

Those must be some pretty and nice smelling flaps ;).

Great looking airplane with some real nice capabilities. Likely to be a good seller :ok:.

HyFlyer, you're not SW are you?

SJ30
 

I am lucky enough to have flown the SJ30. The performance numbers published are based on the test aircraft that were used for FAA certification which were slightly less smooth or efficient than the production aircraft. On a customer aircraft I have seen TAS of 494 kts (around ISA) and have reached the overspeed warning at around M.84 in level flight at FL300. Although we have not done it, extrapolating the long range trips we have done of 2200-2400 nm, we believe that the SJ30 is capable of doing 2600 nm still air over about a 6 hour flight, if you run LRC and step climb efficiently through the levels FL410, 430, 450, 470 and last hour at 490. Obviously with IFR reserves.

Ed Swearingen has produced a nice aircraft.

How do passengers like it?

SJ30 - passengers reaction
 

We have had a variety of reactions from passengers. They all like the sea level cabin up to FL410 so they feel less tired after a long flight. They like the fact that the 2 "owner" seats recline to form a flat double bed. However, some passengers are expecting a larger cabin for an aircraft that has such impressive numbers, or even a stand up cabin. But in its defence I would say that the interior is roughly the same size as a CJ2 or CJ3, so its addressing a subset of the jet buyer market who can live with that size of cabin.

SJ30 Ride
 

I fly for factory. Ride quality is the other thing. Over 70 lbs per sq ft of wing loading so the SJ30 flies beautifully through the air especially in turbulence.

During demos in production aircraft we see the demo speed of 494 kts all the time.

In the climb at 250/0.7 passing thru FL330 you see 410 ktas. Speed is everything.

Vref ranges from about 99 kts low and 110 high.

Easy to fly as well. He right though the avionics need some updating

It's obviously the most affected segment of the industry while heavier jets or turboprops were less affected... as good as it could be this aircraft will be sharing a very much eroded market with its competitors.

I understand that the one that i saw is now based in Riyadh, but unfortunately it doesn't appear to move :(

What is the baggage space like?

Cheers

Mutt

SJ30 Baggage Space
 

It has quite a large baggage area at the back with 500 lb weight limit.

Actually the SJ30 in Riyadh has moved quite a lot recently - its just that it probably gets put back in the same place by Arabasco. It has flown short trips to Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai in the last 2 weeks.

Operating costs are pretty reasonable around here in the Middle East with jet fuel at about $2.50 a gallon (we burn about 150 gals/hr on shorter missions, 120 gal/hr in long range flights). But it does make handling charges of $900 for less than a day in Dubai or Bahrain seem expensive by comparison. Think we will use Sharjah in future, not Dubai - looks a lot more reasonable on handling and parking. Dubai charges $400/day for parking after the 4th day whether you are a B747 or a C152, and slightly lower amounts for the first 4 days.

OK, I guess that you are keeping more civilized hours than me :):) I would love to have a look around it, so I hope to bump into you one of these days :)

Mutt

Mutt, would be happy to show you round, just send me a private message and I will give you some Riyadh contact details.

So then you can tell us just how many (or, make that how few) have been produced to date. 5? 10?

SJ30
 

One just delivered to Morgan Freeman last month was S/N 10

What do they cost? Pretty impressive figures. Any news on EASA certification?

FBP

Hum, and what about the Falcon 10 guys? It can "hold" the comparison and it's 30 years older, what do you think? (well, except for the range)