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FeedThe Next Big Thing in Small Jets
By Rich Acello
Now, a San Diego father and son have their sights set on changing aviation by building a stronger, lighter plane with fewer parts and improved range. Linden Blue and his son, Austin, are the pioneers at the controls of Spectrum Aeronautical, a company aiming to replace aluminum jets with planes fabricated from carbon-fiber composites and epoxy.
Composites make today's tennis racquets and high-performance bicycles lighter and stronger. They are also used in Formula One racers to achieve greater fuel efficiency. "Composites have been in the works [in aircraft] for a long time," says Linden Blue, who is also vice chairman of San Diego-based General Atomics. "Our goal has been to work with the fundamental physical properties of composites and develop airplanes that realize their potential for the general aviation market."
General Atomics' Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) is already a leading producer of unpiloted composite aircraft, such as the Predator, which has been deployed in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Linden has logged more than a quarter-century in the aircraft industry, including directing the initial development of the first FAA-certified advanced composite aircraft, the Starship, as CEO of Beechcraft.
With Spectrum, the Blues want to promake greater use of composites throughout the aircraft, rather than just at the fuselage and wings. Combined with automated fabrication and assembly, the result would be a leapfrogging technological advance that vice president of marketing Austin Blue compares to going from candles to lightbulbs.
"Automation is the key to controlling costs," says Linden. "The other driving factor is weight. Every pound you can save makes a big difference. The lighter plane uses less fuel, can be powered with a smaller engine, can carry more passengers, can be landed on a smaller runway and has less effect on the environment."
Not only is composite fiber lighter than aluminum, itís also less susceptible to fatigue and corrosion, he says. Using epoxy to join parts means fewer screws, bolts and other fasteners that need frequent maintenance and replacement.
"In general, there are savings in reducing the overall parts count," Linden says. "Jets are parts- and labor-intensive; the aluminum plane has 15,000 to 20,000 parts, where ours will have 2,000 to 3,000 - a dramatic difference. Our fuselage is one piece, and our wing is also one piece.
"We knew that in order to do what we wanted, we couldn't do it in halfmeasures," he says. "If you get something that's 10 to 20 percent different, it doesn't justify the investment."
Linden won't disclose how large an investment he and his investors are making, but he notes that airplane development costs are generally measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Spectrum's 10-seat jet, the Independence, is comparable in cabin size, range and payload to a Cessna CJ2+. "The Cessna weighs about 12,500 pounds, whereas the Independence weighs in at around 7,500 pounds," Linden says. "The Cessna runs about $5.7 million versus $3.65 million for the Independence."
The Independence has a cruise speed of 415 nautical miles per hour and a range of 2,000 nautical miles. Also in development is the larger Freedom model, which features a full, 6- foot stand-up cabin, a range of more than 2,200 nautical miles and speeds of more than 430 nautical miles per hour. The Freedom, which has a cabin size comparable to a Lear 60, a Citation XLS or a Gulfstream G150, is expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $6.2 million.
SPECTRUM'S PROTOTYPES are being built and tested at an 80,000- square-foot facility in Spanish Fork, Utah, a town of about 20,000, 48 miles from Salt Lake City. After 46 test flights in which the Spectrum prototype "performed as advertised," Linden says, tragedy struck.
On July 25, 2006, two experienced test pilots took the plane up, unaware that an installation error of a key component doomed their flight. The prototype crashed, killing the pilots and destroying the plane. An August 1 preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the installation error led to a situation in which "left roll input from the side sticks would have deflected the ailerons to produce right roll of the airplane . . . that the ailerons action was reversed."
In other words, when the pilots took action to level the airplane, they increased its roll in the wrong direction instead. Linden says that once in flight, the pilots had only about two seconds to recognize the problem and implement a solution to control the plane's roll. It wasn't enough time, even for the experienced test pilots.
Following the crash, he says, a design change will make it impossible to incorrectly install the aileron control. Spectrum is in the process of developing a new prototype, which should be ready for testing by August 2007.
Despite the setback, Linden says the inspiration to create the optimum business jet remains. "I've been flying for 50 years, and you always want better airplanes, with more speed, more range, more payload," he says. "When you get this bug, youíre always looking at something better. I was the general manager of Lear Jet and CEO of Beechcraft, and they make great airplanes, but not ones I could afford to fly. The Spectrum jet is the ultimate business tool. We have the perfect compromise between size and capability."
Linden likens the development of the affordable business jet to the advent of the personal automobile. ìIn the 19th century, everybody thought the train was the way to go," he says. "But when the Model T came along, and you could travel from point to point without regard for the train's schedule, then everyone wanted to drive a car. For the same reason, I think the real opportunity is in the private aviation sector - getting airplanes to more people to fly when they want. If you can bring down the cost, it opens up options, such as air taxis, time shares and fractional ownerships that really open up the private, point-to-point way of traveling to a lot more people. That's where the future is."
Competitors including Honda also have next-generation private jets in the works, so the race for the ultimate business jet is on. Linden says Spectrum faces another two-plus years of a Federal Aviation Administration certification process, but in the meantime, the company is taking orders.
And as any of history's aviation pioneers could have testified, changing the way humans fly is not for the faint of heart. Today, longer lead times and development costs mean the aviation pioneer must possess financial stamina as well.
"It has been said that you can make a small fortune in this business," Linden says, "provided you start out with a large fortune."
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