Speed of light: SyberJet to unveil SJ36

SyberJet claims its new product – which it is showing for the first time in mock-up form at NBAA-BACE – will be faster than its SJ30-2 predecessor and the only light jet with a coast-to-coast capability.

On the eve of NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas on 19 October, in an area of the static display dubbed SyberJet World, SyberJet will unveil a full-scale mock-up, complete with interior and cockpit, of what the start-up is touting as effectively the first all-new light jet on the market since the launch of the Pilatus PC-24 in 2013.

Effectively, because the SJ36 is not entirely new. In fact, the design is four decades old. It is based on the Williams International FJ44-2A-powered SJ30-2, built by aircraft designer Ed Swearingen in the 1980s. The aircraft was certificated under a successor company, Sino Swearingen, in the 2000s.

However, only around a dozen aircraft were ever built, four of which entered service. And, despite several attempts under successive owners to revive the programme – including an effort to certificate an upgraded variant called the SJ30i in the late 2010s – it has remained in near-abeyance since.

Only one SJ30-2 remains in private ownership, although actor Morgan Freeman provided celebrity endorsement when he took delivery of the final example in 2009, flying the type for several years. Now, however, Chandler, Arizona-based SyberJet believes it has the right formula to establish the SJ36 as a genuine contender in a competitive segment.

Improved performance

SyberJet has been working on the SJ36 since entrepreneur Trevor Milton bought the business in 2024. The aircraft, provisionally priced at $14 million, will deliver a top speed of Mach 0.88, improving on its predecessor’s M0.83. Additionally, and crucially, it will deliver a range of 3,000nm (5,600km), compared with the SJ30-2’s 2,500nm.

It will do this largely with punchier FJ44-4A engines (the same as those powering the Cessna Citation CJ4 and PC-24), each delivering 3,620lbf (16.1kN) of thrust compared with the SJ30-2’s 2,300lbf-thrust powerplants. Milton signed the deal with the Pontiac, Michigan-based propulsion specialist at last year’s NBAA-BACE.

This, insists SyberJet, will make the SJ36 the only light jet with nonstop US coast-to-coast capability. Coupled with that, the company claims the SJ36 will be able to maintain sea-level cabin pressure at 41,000ft, meaning, in the words of Milton, “you no longer need a $1000,000 midsize charter to fly coast to coast – the SJ36 can do it for 50-70% less”.

The SJ36 will also have a 3m (10ft) longer fuselage, with room for eight seats plus additional seated lavatory, two more than on the SJ30-2. SyberJet’s proprietary avionics – branded SyberVision and featuring six touchscreen displays, a flight management system, autopilot, and autothrottles – will replace the Honeywell Primus 1000 flightdeck in the original aircraft.

While the SJ30-2 – an example of which SyberJet is displaying alongside the SJ36 mock-up at NBAA-BACE – remains a “performance powerhouse”, Milton’s aim has been to improve on its credentials with the SJ36, says chief commercial officer Jason Lindauer. “When Trevor bought the company, his first thought was: ‘We can make this thing better’.”

Of course, all this must be proven in the flight testing and certification campaign. Although the company has “several pre-orders in place” and will be announcing more at NBAA-BACE, first flight is still “three to five years” away, and SyberJet is targeting certification in 2032. “At this stage, we are all hands on deck developing the aircraft,” says Lindauer.

New jet is based on the Williams International FJ44-2A-powered SJ30-2, built by aircraft designer Ed Swearingen in the 1980s and pictured here. Source: AirTeamImages

SyberJet’s new owner is the latest to try to make a commercial breakthrough with an aircraft that first flew in 1991. The programme was taken on in 1995 by the Taiwanese-backed Sino Swearingen, which stretched the wing and fuselage to create the SJ30-2, achieving certification 10 years later.

Swearingen, who died in 2014 aged 88, was a renowned San Antonio-based aircraft designer. He conceived the original SJ30 because he felt many turboprop buyers really aspired to fly an affordable jet – an argument echoed by Eclipse Aviation’s Vern Raburn almost two decades later.

Despite the fatal crash of a prototype in 2003, the programme had an auspicious start with Action Aviation taking on the distribution rights to the aircraft – then priced at $6.2 million – in 66 countries and ordering 159 examples. Jet Aviation also committed to being the worldwide factory-approved maintenance provider.

Ed Swearingen cited the use of smaller, efficient engines and an “uncompromised” high-speed wing as differentiators between the SJ30 – so named as it was his 30th aircraft design – and other light jets in the market. In fact, he described many of his competitors as “turboprops that just have jet engines on them”.

Money matters

However, neither Swearingen and his original backers, nor the better-resourced Sino Swearingen could successfully crack the market. Although the latter took the aircraft to first flight, certification and production, the business hit the skids and Dubai-based Emivest became the new owner in 2008.

Emivest was determined to resurrect production and find new customers, but itself filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Following that, the company’s assets were acquired by aft fuselage supplier Metalcraft, which renamed it SyberJet and announced plans to restart output by the end of the decade.

Under that owner, a reworked variant, called the SJ30i, with Honeywell Epic 2.0-based SyberVision avionics, made its maiden flight at the company’s San Antonio, Texas base in October 2019 and debuted at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas just weeks later. Certification and entry into service was slated for early 2021, but the pandemic put the project on hold.

Speed was core to Swearingen’s philosophy when he designed the SJ30, and the SJ30-2 holds several speed records, the latest of which – though still awaiting confirmation from the authorities – was achieved on 21 August, when SyberJet pilot Gordon Bryan, with Milton onboard, flew from Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego in 4h 7min.

Milton, who also acts as chief executive of SyberJet, is best known as the founder of Nikola, a manufacturer of hydrogen-powered vehicles. After being jailed for four years in December 2023 for making false and misleading statements about the technology to investors, he was pardoned by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in 2025.

Milton – who with his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund ahead of November 2024 – thanked the president “for his courage in standing up for what is right and for granting me this sacred pardon of innocence”. Nikola entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February last year and was wound up shortly after.

Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund ahead of November 2024. Source: SyberJet

Several former Nikola employees have joined SyberJet, according to Lindauer, who describes his boss as a pilot and aviation enthusiast who “is here every day to be part of everything”. The company currently has a staff of about 100 but aims to create more than 1,500 jobs in the next four years,

As well as its headquarters in Chandler – a satellite city of Phoenix – the company has small operations in Cedar City, Utah and San Antonio. It has yet to settle on a future production site. “We are still looking at options,” says Lindauer, a former vice-president of sales and marketing at MD Helicopters.

Similarly, the company is in discussions with customer support providers. “For me, ensuring we have a proper a

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