Story ID: 
In The Works: Maverick Jets Leader
By: AIN Staff
Caption: Last month, the Melbourne, Fla.-based builder of the Maverick Leader, a four-place, twin-engine kit plane, announced that it would, effective immediately, 
Word Count: 183
Last month, the Melbourne, Fla.-based builder of the Maverick Leader, a four-place, twin-engine kit plane, announced that it would, effective immediately, now sell “all of its personal custom jets with its new fan jet engines,” the Williams FJ33 turbofan engine, rated at 1,100 pounds thrust. Until now, the Maverick kits have been supplied with 750-pound-thrust MC750 turbojet engines that the company has been converting from surplus General Electric T58 turboshaft engines.Maverick expects to receive two factory-demo engines from Williams this month and several more this fall, according to Sandy Scott, chief pilot and director of client development. Deliveries of the Leader kitplane with FJ33s would begin after the engine is certified, which is expected this December. Until then, Scott said Maverick would deliver about 20 aircraft with the MC750 engines, and customers have the choice of retrofitting when the FJ33s are available. Price of the FJ33-powered Leader is $1.25 million, about $250,000 than a similarly equipped MC750-powered Leader.Only one Maverick Leader is flying (the other completed aircraft crashed in January), but several more are “close behind” in construction, said Scott.