TYPE: Light business jet.

PROGRAMME: Original Foxjet F600 announced in 1977; retrospectively hailed as first of 'very light jets'; 73 orders by 1978; four full-size mockups produced for test and demonstration; production planned by Aeronca of Middletown, Ohio, at rate of 44 per month; optimum Williams WR44-800 high-bypass turbofan was also selected for use in cruise missiles and its civilian employment was then refused by US government; lack of alternative engine forced abandonment of the project after few parts for prototype had been manufactured and half of engineering work completed; Fox returned USD1 million of deposits, including that for order placed by Bill Lear of Lear Jet; associated DialJet on-demand air taxi operation was also abandoned; last entry in Jane's All the World's Aircraft was 1980-81 edition.
Millennium purchased Foxjet rights as means to acquire nearly complete design; proposed modifications restricted to some use of carbon fibre; modern avionics; and new power plant. Revised design exhibited at AOPA Expo, Palm Springs, California, November 2006. Exceptionally tight development schedule includes first flight in mid-2007, followed by certification in 2008.

CUSTOMERS: Millennium revealed 100 deposits from air taxi operators and private owners had been taken by November 2006.

COSTS: Target price USD1.7 million (2006).

DESIGN FEATURES: Objectives of the 1970s project included lowering business jet fuel costs to some 9 cents/mile compared with 48 cents for similar aircraft (at cost of USD0.50 per US gallon); producing a business jet operable at nearly 9,000 US airfields (including grass) compared with only 900 available to larger aircraft; and unit cost of USD500,000 to 700,000, or about half the cost of then-competitors.
Cantilever low-wing monoplane with engines in pods, each side of rear fuselage; moderate leading-edge sweepback; straight trailing-edge; sweptback fin and cruciform, sweptback, variable incidence tailplane. Tab in rudder. Wing design by Branson Aircraft Corp; NACA 65 Series laminar flow section, commercial name 'Foxjet Super-Flow'; available for simple modification to supercritical form when required by future power increase.

FLYING CONTROLS: Conventional and manual. Trim tab in port aileron. Electrically operated, modified Fowler type single-slotted light alloy trailing-edge flaps. Hydraulically operated spoilers, forward of flaps, serve also as airbrakes.

STRUCTURE: Generally fail-safe light alloy structure, but carbon fibre in selected areas. Semi-monocoque fuselage of circular cross-section; honeycomb pressure bulkheads and baggage deck.

LANDING GEAR: Tricycle type; retractable. Twin wheels on each unit. Hydraulic retraction; main units retract inward; nose unit aft. Manually operated emergency hydraulic system. Oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers. Main wheels have low-pressure tires size 5.00-5. Hydraulically steerable nosewheel unit, with water-chine, tire size 11x4.00-5. Hydraulic disc brakes on main wheels.

POWER PLANT: Two 6.01 kW (1,350 lb st) Pratt & Whitney Canada PW615 turbofan engines. Integral wing fuel tanks, total capacity 826 litres (218 US gallons; 182 Imp gallons); refuelling port above each wing.

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot and three to five passengers, in pairs. Dual controls optional. Current interior design by Porsche. Two-piece door (upward-hinged top, and downward-hinged lower portion with integral steps) on port side forward of wing. Emergency exit starboard side. Accommodation air-conditioned and pressurised. Birdproof windscreen with pneumatic system for rain removal, defogging and defrosting. Equipment access door on port side of nose. Baggage hold aft of cabin.

SYSTEMS: Electrical anti-icing of each wing leading-edge at root and engine air intakes; optional pneumatic de-icing boots for remainder of leading-edges. Pressurisation system with max differential of 0.59 bar (8.5 lb/sq in), providing a cabin altitude of 2,440 m (8,000 ft) to FL410. Electrical system. Hydraulic system, with hydraulic backup. Pneumatic system. Oxygen system.

AVIONICS: Under revision.

DIMENSIONS, EXTERNAL:

• Wing span: 9.64 m (31 ft 7¾ in)
• Wing aspect ratio: 8.0
• Length overall: 6.265 m (20 ft 6½ in)
• Max diameter of fuselage: 1.40 m (4 ft 7 in)
• Height overall: 3.12 m (10 ft 2¾ in)
• Tailplane span: 4.06 m (13 ft 4 in)

DIMENSION, INTERNAL:

• Cabin length: 3.66 m (12 ft 0 in)

AREAS:

• Wings, gross: 11.61 m² (125.0 sq ft)

WEIGHTS AND LOADINGS:

• Max fuel weight: 652 kg (1,418 lb)
• Max T-O weight: 2,154 kg (4,750 lb)
• Max wing loading: 185.5 kg/m² (38.00 lb/sq ft)
• Max power loading: 179 kg/kN (1.76 lb/lb st)

PERFORMANCE:

• Max level speed: 356 kt (660 km/h; 410 mph)
• Normal cruising speed: 320 kt (593 km/h; 368 mph)
• Stalling speed, flaps down: 74 kt (137 km/h; 86 mph)
• Range with max fuel: 1,215 n miles (2,250 km; 1,400 miles)