A New Class of Aircraft Debuts: The PLJ

The production life expectancy of most high-performance piston singles and twins, plus some entry-level turboprops, may be even shorter than predicted by twin-turbofan VLJ proponents. That's because the price of admission to the jet set is being further reduced with the introduction of the single-engine personal light jet, or PLJ. Even the most ardent VLJ promoters see a market for less expensive entry-level single turbofan aircraft.

"The concept of the personal light jet makes sense. I believe there could be a very large market for the right single-engine jet, but not if it's dumbed down. It would have to cruise at least 300 KTAS and fly as high as 35,000 feet occasionally to escape the weather. And it will have to be priced close to a $1million or lower to be viable," proclaimed Vern Raburn, founder, chairman and CEO of Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, N.M. The Eclipse 500 is the aircraft that started the VLJ movement.

Peter Maurer, president of Diamond Aircraft Industries, a leader in the emerging PLJ market segment, agrees in principle with Raburn, but not with his assessment of performance and price requirements. Diamond Aircraft has logged 50 hours of flight time on its proof-of-concept D-Jet, a single-engine PLJ, slated for type certification in the first half of 2008. D-Jet is designed to cruise as fast as 315 KTAS, but it only will be certified for a maximum cruise altitude of 25,000 feet. It's also priced at $1.