Something to look forward to for "late" 2012....the jet products of both Cirrus and Diamond....

- if funding continues
- if the conforming planes do OK
- if the certification process goes OK
- if they don't crash one or two of them
- if the economy doesn't tank further
- if the world doesn't end
- if if if....

Diamond says they have about 200 orders of their $1.89 million machine, and Cirrus claims more than 430 of their $1.72 million V-Tail.

I think I'll order one of each and see who comes through...

Diamond's already announced another delay until 2014 and Cirrus is a long way from done. They simply don't have the funding necessary at this point, although they claim to be moving somewhat forward in phases. The last report was that Cirrus was having trouble paying current vendors, let alone cash for future development.

Even with a flying prototype, they will still need a lot of additional investment to bring their VLJ's to production.

Although I couldn't swing the money for one of these jets (unless I went in with 10 partners), I am hopeful that Gerry Merrill gets his jet produced for the $150K that he projects (see link for details).

http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/tiny_turbines.html

It is only a two-seater, so my favorite is still the Eclipse 400 jet with the V-tail.

I'd buy one if they got it done.

I think anyone to get to market with a single engine jet would be a winner.

Couple pix of the Eclipse single at OSH. It looked cool, but didn't seem very practical for travel - very limited range, though I guess you can go quite a ways in 2-3 hours if you can cruise at 300+. Interior was very small, seemed rather dark.