Two decades after it was shelved, the Jetcruzer is back—sort of. Aircraft components manufacturer Victor Tao—owner of Farrar Aerospace in Riverside, California—bought the physical and intellectual remains of the program in 2016 and has been quietly working with a small team to bring it back to life.
A pair scale models are on display this week at NBAA-BACE 2023 at Jetcruzer International’s booth. But the company is a long way from entering production and has yet to make the first flight of its lone test article. Although that first flight could come before year-end, operations manager Jonathan Garza told AIN.
The pusher turboprop single-engine aircraft was originally designed in the early 1980s with the six-seat, single-pilot 450—an unpressurized version—flew for about a decade. The design features an all-composite fuselage, aluminum wings, and forward canard.
It ended up in pieces packed in boxes in Texas after going through several ownership changes since AASI killed the program in 2004 after it had racked up tens of millions of dollars in losses. Tao received the remains in 2017.
Garza said Jetcruzer is working to “put that model back together." Initially, Jetcruzer will fly it with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 power and then produce a hydrogen-powered/electric version of the Model 500, a stretched and pressurized version of the 450. Jetcruzer believes that aircraft could be certified by mid-2025.
While Jetcruzer is displaying a model of the twin-engine, 12-passenger Model 1250 at the show that could run on electric power, Garza said there are no immediate plans to produce it. Jetcruzer also has developed an eVTOL concept for the Model 450, but that likewise, is not a production project in the immediate future, Garza said.
Garza said resurrecting the 450 has been difficult as a lot of components on the approved parts list “don’t exist anymore.” Tao has individually funded the project to date but is seeking additional investors.