Just two months after being unveiled at the NBAA Convention, the Spectrum 33 twinjet made a 10-minute first flight this past Saturday afternoon. At a light weight of 5,375 pounds, the Spectrum 33 prototype took off from Spanish Fork Airport, Utah, using about 750 feet of runway. Company chief of flight test William Davies and veteran test pilot Ian Hollingsworth then repositioned the nine-seat very light jet to nearby Provo Airport, which has a considerably longer runway. Davies noted that the aircraft performed as expected, but that pitch control was not “optimum.†As a result, Spectrum engineers will fine-tune the aircraft’s flight control rigging to increase pitch control authority at higher speeds before the airplane flies again in about a week. The Spectrum 33, which is built using a unique carbon-graphite construction process, is expected have a high-speed cruise of 415 knots and a max range of 2,000 nm. FAA certification of the Williams FJ33-4A-15-powered twinjet is slated for late 2007 or early 2008.
