Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000's?

jwp_145

jwp_145

GhostRider in the Sky
I was just thumbing through some old magazines as i was cleaning out some boxes and had a chuckle at the VLJ craze of the mid-2000s... Flying Mag and AOPA Pilot are littered with advertisements for VLJs accepting deposits that never made it past the proof-of-concept phase, or off the ground for that matter! And then in articles from the likes of J. Mac MacClellan, or whatever the guy's name is, all of the writers talk about the worry of the ARTCC system just being overwhelmed by VLJs humming all around the country.

Any comments, or photos, or reminissings of your favorite VLJ proposal?

Mine was the single engine VLJ that had the two air-intakes at the 10oclock and 2oclock positions on the top of the fuselage kinda like a musclecar... can't remember who made/proposed it.
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

One thing that I am impressed by though, when speaking of the VLJ craze, is the Eclipse managed to crank out 200+ of those things in a very very short production timeframe... yes I know it was very very late, and very very troubled in every aspect of it tortured little birth, but once that assembly line started going they just started pumping them out!
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

I'll take this over a VLJ any day ! :rawk:

cobalt-400x218.jpg

C050 COBALT
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

Man the Nazi's were pricks but they sure made some cool stuff
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

While the craze seems to have been a bit hyped Popular Mechanics style, I think it did still manage to happen, and is happening, to some extent. The Mustang has sold well. Time will tell how the Diamond jet does, but it seems like they are putting the right time into developing it.
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

It seems the VLJ was just the modern variation on the 'Flying Car'.

Instead we have fractional ownership and on-demand charter service flying anything and everything from Embraer Phenoms to Gulfstreams to BBJs.

The demand for personal, custom aviation is there- just not quite in the 'do it yourself' variation that was forecast.

Makes for good reading. Almost like science fiction. Good business? Practical reality? Not so much. The costs of training, maintenance, and general operation cost puts even the most economical aviation travel outside individual owners' reach. Turbine aviation in an unproven field? One is forced to wonder what it might be like if it had come to fruition.
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

OMGZ...remember when we Velo on here wanting User Fee's because of all these little VLJ's...those were fun times!

(Now time to go fly on GoJet to my PFT job at Gulfstream, just hope I don't get Doug Taylor'd on the way there...)
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

SurferLucas said:
OMGZ...remember when we Velo on here wanting User Fee's because of all these little VLJ's...those were fun times!
Click to expand...


I remember those times. The funny thing is, those VLJ's would have just rolled those user fees into the price of the charter, and they would have still been there to smite him!:rawk:
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

Very Light pipedream-Jet

Honda has a shot.

I know the Mustang was partially certified under the Part 23 VLJ but performance (there may be more areas I just know this one) was done under the commuter branch of Part 23.
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

jwp_145 said:
One thing that I am impressed by though, when speaking of the VLJ craze, is the Eclipse managed to crank out 200+ of those things in a very very short production timeframe... yes I know it was very very late, and very very troubled in every aspect of it tortured little birth, but once that assembly line started going they just started pumping them out!
Click to expand...

True, they did pump out a lot of those things, but it's not has impressive when they are all grade-A POS. :bandit:

Edit: Honda does indeed look like they might have a shot, and I've heard the Phenom and Mustang are both solid machines.
 
Re: Remember the VLJ 'sky-flooding' hysteria of the mid 2000

In Europe there are lots of VLJs, epsecially the bigger ones made by Cessna and Embraer have sold really well. In my last trip to Europe I saw many VLJs flying around, I think it fits the mission of most peoples over here that use to fly on citation I before. In Russia they have many Eclipse flying..

I think the problem with the VLJs was that most of them came from companies that never made Jets before or were fresh in the industry.

I do like this one a lot http://www.exceljetair.com/ and it may have some future
 
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