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Flight Test activities begin early in the
morning for the team. The schedule called for two to three flights a day, depending on the
goals to be accomplished. |
The Mojave Airport’s Civilian Flight Test Center has just finished playing
host to a flight test team from San Antonio, Texas based Sino Swearingen Aircraft Company
and their SJ30-2 business jet, which is currently progressing through its FAA
certification flight test program. Utilizing Flight Test Associates’ Mojave facility,
the team, headed by Chief Test Pilot John Siemens, had been flying an aggressive schedule
to validate the aircraft’s handling qualities.
Flying this segment of the test program at Mojave provided “more freedom and
safety to test,” according to Siemens, due to the availability of the near-by
Military Operations Area (MOA). “We don’t have to deal with ATC. Joshua
[Approach, the Edwards-based flight controllers for the MOA] understands flight testing,
that’s what makes Mojave the perfect place.”
The result is that the flight test program has been “much more
productive” than if it had been performed elsewhere. “We will accomplish in six
weeks what would have taken three months to do in San Antonio.” |
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The elegant lines of the SJ30-2 are
evident as the team puts the aircraft through its paces over Mojave's skies. |
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The flight test team arrived at Mojave on June 11, and flew the first phase of the program
over the following three weeks before returning to San Antonio for a week. One step in the process of getting a new aircraft
FAA certificated is the Type Inspection Authorization, and this was accomplished during
that week.
Back in Mojave, the flight test program resumed, with some of the flights being
chased by a vintage North American F-100D SuperSabre, flown by well-known test pilot Dick
Lawyer, with a Sino Swearingen flight test engineer riding in the aft seat. Siemens anticipates that the program will be
completed in another couple of weeks.
Siemens reports that he SJ30-2 is an excellent flying aircraft. “It stalls
better than any Cessna Citation,” he says, “and is as docile as a C-172.
It’s a joy to fly.” For a highly swept wing aircraft, such a benign stall
characteristic is unusual, and is a part of what will allow this aircraft to be certified
for single-pilot operations. Sino Swearingen’s designers set out to create a small
entry-level business jet with unparalleled speed and range. Seating six passengers, the
SJ30-2 has a 2,500 nautical mile range with a .83 mach maximum cruise speed at altitude. |
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| Text and photos by
Alan Radecki |
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