Sino Swearingen SJ30

10/31/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "This aircraft was announced as the six-seat Swearingen SA-30 Fanjet at San Antonio, Texas on October 30, 1986. In October 1988 Gulfstream, Williams and Rolls-Royce joined the program and the aircraft was renamed Gulfstream SA-30 Gulfjet. Within a year, September 1, 1989, Gulfstream withdrew from program, its place taken by Jaffe Group of San Antonio, Texas, and aircraft was renamed Swearingen/Jaffe SJ30.

Powered by two 1,900 lb (862 kg) st Williams FJ44-1 turbofans, and registered appropriately N30SJ, the aircraft made its first flight on February 13, 1991. Certification of the SJ30-1, as the type then became known, was planned for 1995 but delayed pending development of SJ30-2 of increased performance. In 1995 Swearingen formed a joint venture with Taiwanese investors and the company was renamed Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation.

The seven-seat prototype SJ30-2 was modified from the original SJ30-1. It featured a 4 ft 4 in (1.32 m) fuselage stretch, a 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) wing span increase, wing dihedral increase, revised wing/fuselage fairing, and a larger fuel capacity, it first flew on November 8, 1996. Subsequently 2,300 lb (1,043 kg) FJ44-2A engines were installed and in this configuration it was first flown on September 4, 1997. The prototype N30SJ was retired in 1999.

The Type Certificate was issued to Sino Swearingen on October 27, 2005. Sino Swearingen was taken over by investors of Dubai in June 2008, and was renamed Emivest Aerospace Corporation on October 5, 2008, the type became the SJ30, again. To date ten aircraft have been produced, including the pictured seventh. The tenth was registered November 23, 2009 as N30GZ to 921 BE LLC of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and is owned and flown by Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman."