New SubSonex Jet

NEWS & INFO

Sonex Displays New JSX-2T Jet Trainer Kit

BY ROBBIE CULVER

AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF

SONEX LLC DISPLAYED its new JSX-2T jet trainer kit at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022. Owner and President Mark Schaible said the kit is “absolutely the most inexpensive jet trainer in the world.” Schaible said customers approached Sonex asking for a two-seat or trainer version as more SubSonex JSX-2 kits were sold and flown, especially as it appeared in air shows.

Customers need transition training for personal jets even outside the SubSonex community. Schaible said the PBS TJ100-E3S turbojet engine is what makes both the SubSonex and the trainer version affordable.

The SubSonex JSX-2T is available only as a quick-build kit, and it’s priced at $66,000 plus engine, avionics, and builder-selected options. Schaible estimated the kit can be completed for less than $155,000. Currently, 16 single-seat SubSonex jets are flying, and the kit serial numbers are up to 56, so there are many more in progress or preparing to fly.

The JSX-2T should cruise about 200 mph, carries 50 gallons of usable fuel in a rotationally molded polyethylene fuel tank, and is equipped with electrically retractable landing gear. It will be fully aerobatic with an estimated range of 360 miles with a 30-minute fuel reserve.

Sonex is located in the Homebuilt Aircraft Display area in Booth 602.

PHOTO BY ROBBIE CULVER

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AROUND THE GROUNDS

ONE WEEK WONDER UPDATE

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK SCHAIBLE

WE HAVE WINGS! Wing skinning on the 2022 Waiex-B One Week Wonder was completed on Thursday, and the wings have been rigged to the fuselage. Tasks in the forward fuselage to prep for wing rigging were completed late Thursday, and a small crew of volunteers and Sonex staff stayed into the night to complete that process.

Other milestones for Thursday included the beginning of the tail installation process, gear leg rigging and drilling, engine mount installation, and installation of the first firewall forward components, including the Rotax 912 iS fuse box, oil tank, and oil breather tube. The fuel tank was given its first temporary fit with fuel lines to the 912 iS fuel pumps, and the fuel pumps were installed. We’re looking forward to getting the Waiex-B on its gear, installing a lot more engine installation items, continuing the canopy installation process, and making more progress on the installation of controls.

Thank you

to all the sponsors of EAA’s One Week Wonder project

The One Week Wonder project is located at Four Corners across from the EAA Merchandise Center. Stop by, pull a rivet, and be part of the experience!

Presented by: Supported by:

NEWS & INFO

NASA PLANS FOR AAM VERTIPORTS

TERESA WHITING, NASA ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER

There’s a reason pilots...

LOOKING FORWARD TO catching an air taxi? NASA is working to answer where advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles will take off and land. Many AAM aircraft will be electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, so they will have the ability to take off and land vertically like helicopters on helipads. AAM vehicle types could also include other power and operating concepts.

NASA’s AAM mission is researching where these vertiports or vertiplexes, which are multiple vertiports in proximity, will work into existing infrastructure like current airports and heliports. There is also work being done to investigate new landing areas that can be created from repurposed areas or purpose-built sites, or integrated into existing buildings such as a train or bus station.

Many early cases of eVTOLs taking off and landing will occur at existing airports. Down the road, these vehicles will use their unique performance capabilities to land on the top of buildings or other spaces in crowded urban areas.

HIGH DENSITY VERTIPLEX NASA’s high density vertiplex (HDV) subproject is developing a vertiport automation system and using small remotely piloted aircraft to assess how vertiport automation can enhance safety and efficiency of operations. HDV will initially test these smaller remotely piloted aircraft but will progress to larger VTOL aircraft. The team is evaluating how automation built into a vertiport, vehicle, and air traffic management system could interact; how these systems can address hazards and contingencies; and how pilots, vertiport managers, and fleet managers will interact with the technology. Data collected from these tests will help inform future research areas in vertiport automation systems and urban air mobility operations in the areas around vertiports. AAM MISSION’S VERTIPORT COMMUNITY INTEGRATION The AAM mission is working with local communities to understand how vertiport concepts, infrastructure, and design can impact them directly. The teams have hosted information sessions to support awareness, including presenting results from HDV’s efforts, security, and the results from a vertiport survey.

NASA’s vision is to map out a safe, accessible, and affordable new air transportation system alongside industry, community partners, and the FAA. Once developed, passengers and cargo will travel on-demand in innovative, automated aircraft across town, between neighboring cities, or to other locations typically accessed today by car.

Several projects supporting NASA’s advanced air mobility, or AAM, mission are working on different elements to help make AAM a reality. One of these focus areas is vertiports. This concept graphic shows a vertiport design where an AAM vehicle could take off and land in the future.

“NASA’S AAM MISSION IS RESEARCHING WHERE THESE VERTIPORTS OR VERTIPLEXES, WHICH ARE MULTIPLE VERTIPORTS IN PROXIMITY, WILL WORK INTO EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE LIKE CURRENT AIRPORTS AND HELIPORTS.”