Sonex Aircraft Brings Back the BD-5J

     On July 10, 2014 the Sonex JSX-2 took flight for the first time. This revolutionary jet takes the home building market to the next level as a kit plane that the customer purchases and builds at their home or shop. This small-single-seat-jet is relatively cheap for it's class and will provide the owner with a whole new home built plane experience. This jet is capable of speeds in excess of 240 mph with a maximum weight of only 1,000 pounds. 

    Sonex has been creating planes for aviation enthusiasts for many years with 5 models currently produced. Until the JSX arrived on the market, Sonex only produced small piston powered planes. Most of their planes were in the $20,000-$60,000 range until the JSX was released. Though Sonex originally expected the new jet to cost only $60,000, the price was released mid-August at a staggering $130,000. Though the price was quite a bit off Sonex's original estimate, many people are still excitedly pre-ordering the kit for it's 2015 release.

    The reason for everyone's excitement on the release of this new toy is it's similarity to the old BD-5J jet that was created in 1971. The BD-5J is the record holder for the World's Smallest Jet. Since only a few BD-5J's remain in existence, their value has gone way higher than almost anyone can afford, that is why the new JSX-2 that is relatively cheap is so appealing to pilots. Both aircraft use the same engine and have similar size and weight characteristics, the key difference on the two is the way their engines are mounted. On the BD-5J, the engine is tucked away under the skin out of site, on the JSX-2, the engine is mounted on top of the fuselage. 

    Although the Sonex jet takes thousands of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars, many future jet pilots are ready to give Sonex their money in exchange for the fun jet. Many people who want to be commercial jet pilots in the future will also show interest in this jet. In order for many airliners to hire pilots, they have to have a certain amount of jet flying time to get the job. Since this jet is about the cheapest jet currently around, pilots might think about investing in this jet to get their required jet flying time. 

EAA Airventure 2014 Amazes Aviation Community

Pilot Kirby Chambliss Performs a Knife Edge 

       This July 2014,  there was a major shortage of pilots everywhere in the world; the majority of them were in Oshkosh Wisconsin for the World's Greatest Air Show. For over 60 years, pilots have flocked from all over the globe to see this amazing week long aviation celebration that over 500,000 people attend annually. This year's show had over 10,000 aircraft and over half a million pilots attend. The majority of the show is on the ground; all of the major aircraft manufacturers show off their newest space-age technology and aircraft that only CEO's and actors can afford. The favorite part of the show for most is the daily air show, where the world's top aerobatic pilots show off their amazing talent with death-defying stunts. Pilots like Sean D. Tucker, Skip Stewart and Kirby Chambliss fly their high precision planes that are equivalent to Nascars at low altitude with no room for error. This year the new aspect to Airventure was the first Air Force demonstration team to fly there; the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds are a group of 6, F-16 Fighting Falcons that fly in tight formations with amazing precision. Though there are many people who love large aircraft at Airventure, many people come to see and build homebuilt planes. These are aircraft that are shipped to a home in a box and the customer assembles them. This year a group of 100's of volunteers built one of these planes in the week of the show; (these planes usually take many years to complete) they called it "The One Week Wonder". This is another reason why people were amazed by this show.  The homebuilt planes are the foundation that built EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association). Since a lot of pilots from around the world come to Airventure, many celebrity pilots also come to the show. A few celebrities that come to the show are Harrison Ford and John Travolta who has his own 1960's jet airliner. From the daytime show to the night show with the largest fireworks I have ever seen and a 3,000 foot tall, 5,000 foot long explosion, this show has got to be the best anyone has ever been to.  Although many argue that last year's show was better, this air show will forever go to the top of my list as the greatest air show that I have ever been to.