Aircraft

Aircraft to be delivered later this year to Magnum Jet, subject to FAA certification

Adam Aircraft has begun assembling the first customer A700 in its factory at Centennial airport in Colorado. The company says the Williams International FJ33-4-powered very light jet (VLJ), serial number 4, will probably be delivered in the third or fourth quarter this year to aircraft management and air taxi company Magnum Jet.

The target date is contingent on US Federal Aviation Administration certification for the twinjet, planned for the third quarter. Adam expects to earn its production certificate shortly after, allowing it to begin building about three aircraft a month by the start of the New Year. It has orders for 350 A700s.

Adam says the process of obtaining the production certificate should be fairly straightforward given the similarity between the A700 and its piston-powered sibling, the A500, for which the company was granted a certificate in September.

Adam has delivered seven A500s so far and has orders for 80 more. The company continues to expand the certification envelope for the A500 and is working to receive approval to operate at its maximum certificated altitude of 25,000ft (7,620m) (up from 18,000ft) by the end of the month.

A700 certification efforts continue, with the third test aircraft completed and being prepared for its first flight by the end of this month. Serial number 3 is the first fully conforming A700, says Adam, which plans to retire its first A700, now being used for reduced vertical separation minimum and water ingestion testing, by the middle of this month. The aircraft will become a mock-up for sales.