NBAA Debut for Sino Swearingen SJ30-2

Sixteen years after the Swearingen SA-30 fanjet was announced, 13 years after Gulfstream withdrew from the project it would have called the SA-30 Gulfjet, a dozen years after the prototype first flew, and a mere five years following the emergence of the definitively sized trials machine, a flyable Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 has touched down at an NBAA convention to establish the seven-seater twinjet on final approach for the start of long-awaited deliveries.

On show at Orlando Executive Airport is the new-built conforming prototype, first flown at San Antonio, Texas, on Nov. 30, 2000. Two more SJ30-2s (003 and 004) will join the certification program-one next month (originally to have been in early 2002) and another in the first part of 2003. In deference to history, 003 will carry the same tail number (N30SJ) as the original short-fuselage SJ30, which was stretched to become the aerodynamic pioneer for today's machine.

Despite the fact that flight testing is so far only one-third complete, president and CEO Jack Braly told Show News that a certification date is fixed for late 2003, followed immediately by first deliveries to the U.S. market. JAA certification will come a year after that to begin satisfying European demand. World order book is 150, representing three years' production and a total value of $750 million.

A further restructuring of the program has seen Sino Swearingen acquiring production jigs from its former Spanish risk-sharing partner Gamesa Aeronautica and establishing its own line at Martinsburg, W.Va. Components will be shipped to San Antonio, Texas, for final assembly, beginning early next year with the first production machine (005). Martinsburg currently has 80 employees and is scheduled to grow to 350 in three years' time.

A full-size cabin mockup in the convention hall shows Sino Swearingen has been working on customer-related features as well as FAR Part 23 certification. Making the most of the aircraft's compact cabin is a new low-cabinet configuration, which provides a more open appearance but includes a unique half-height partition featuring a fanned closeout that facilitates both improved access and full privacy in the lavatory.

Distributorships continue to be put in place in advance of deliveries, the two latest being Sino Swearingen de Mexico SA and Business and Commuter Aircraft of Lyon, which will handle France and several of the Francophone countries.

Braly puts aircraft performance as its key selling point, and while acknowledging the passage of time since Ed Swearingen's excellent design appeared on the drawing board, he is adamant that today's SJ30-2 inherits its good points, but has moved ahead with changes to reflect current market demands. Better pressurization, larger wing, longer fuselage, uprated engines and Primus Epic avionics make the sleek-looking bizjet a very different proposition to its progenitor.

By Paul Jackson