Saker Aircraft Corp. has introduced the Saker S-1, which company officials claim will be “one of the world’s fastest and most efficient civilian aircraft available for purchase when it receives FAA and EASA certification and goes into production.”
Drawing inspiration from military fighters, the Saker S-1 is a MACH .99, two-seat personal jet for “aviators and the business elite who demand high-octane performance from their personal transportation,” company official said in a prepared release.
“Designing and building the S-1 is a lifelong journey for me,” said Sean Gillette, founder and CEO. “After several years of designing and refining the style of the S-1, I am happy to see our company move to the next phase of the business plan. We are excited to share our concept with the world, and begin taking pre-orders for the S-1.”
According to Gillette, the Saker S-1 is being designed with specific performance goals, such as the ability to takeoff and land on runways as short as 1,500 feet, climb at 14,000 ft/min and cruise at MACH .95. It is anticipated that the S-1 will have a service ceiling of 45,000 feet and it will travel a maximum distance of 1,600 miles with 500 US gallons of onboard fuel. The range can be extended to 2,200 miles by adding two external 100 gallon pods.
“In designing the S-1 we put a tremendous amount of time and energy into three areas,” he said. “First and foremost, we wanted to design an aircraft that was visually stunning and instantly identifiable. Second, we wanted to offer an aircraft that was incredibly simple to fly, so we have refined the entire cockpit environment, aircraft systems, and aerodynamics to allow any properly trained pilot to fly the S-1. Third, we wanted an aircraft that was high performing by all measures in terms of speed, fuel efficiency and safety.”
The majority of the Saker S-1 will be designed and manufactured in North America, he noted.
For more information: SakerAircraft.com.
Looks an awful lot like the defunct BD-10.
My first thought was …… hey did they buy the BD 10. I had read an Israeli company had bought that and the Saker name means Eagle and Arabic and Hebrew being both Semitic languages my guess it has to be an Israeli company as no Arab country can produce such an aircraft yet
Not a new design. Canopies weird. I own ex-RAF Jet Provost T5A w/410 gals, 175 GPH, cost me $50K. The only advantage of personal jet is if they get it out of Exhibition Experimental category to certified category.
RS, ATP
USMC (ret)
L-29/L-39/Casa HA-200/Jet provost IP
RS,
I am considering a Casa HA-200, and see you have time in them. If you are so inclined, I wonder if you can email me at [email protected] and give me your experience/opinion about owning one. I have around 1300 hrs in my Citation.
Randy
This means I can stop looking for a BD-5.
Let’s get 6 of them and start an airshow act.
Who’s with me?
Heck yeah, gotta get my PPL first 😉
Two’s in…
I’m in!
Hm . . . interesting! Almost sounds ‘to good to be true.’
“Honey, don’t worry – I’ll be home for BREAKFAST – just remember – I like the bacon a little lean and the coffee black!”
Where’s the airframe? Sounds like vaporware to me.