Many single-engine jet programs, including the Diamond D-JET, PiperJet/Altair, and Eclipse 400, emerged around the mid-2000s but ultimately faced various challenges such as funding issues, development hurdles, or company bankruptcies, leading to their cancellation.
These projects largely "vanished," illustrating the significant difficulties in bringing single-engine private jets to market.
The Cirrus Vision Jet (SF50) is highlighted as the sole exception among these programs, having continued development due to sustained investment and a company acquisition.
A gallery of the single-engine jets that have come and (with one exception) vanished.
Diamond’s D-JET,announced at AOPA 2006 in Palm Springs, has been under stop-and-go development for the past seven years. In February of 2013, Diamond suspended the program while it looked for additional funding.One of the first pre-production D-JETS taxiing at Diamond’s facility in London, Ontario, Canada, in 2010.The tail-mounted engine configuration of the PiperJet. The high thrust line created pitch changes when power settings were changed, though Piper said it had successfully addressed the issue.The original PiperJet was based on the fuselage of the PA-46 and featured a tail-mounted engine configuration. It was launched in 2006, a heady year for would be single-engine jet makers. This photograph was taken at the first public flying of the PiperJet in Vero Beach, Florida. A later development, the Altair, replaced the PiperJet. That model never flew and was cancelled by Piper in 2011.Piper announced changes to the PiperJet, including rebranding it as the Altair. Updates included as new wing, fuselage and tail. The program was canceled shortly after the new model was announced.Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn speaks to the press at AirVenture 2007, at the unveiling of the Eclipse 400, a single-engine jet developed as a side project by the Albuquerque company. The company declared bankruptcy the next year and the single jet project was abandoned.The Eclipse 400 demonstrator at AirVenture 2007. The company flew a demonstrator into the show and had this mockup on display, as well. The jet was a casualty of Eclipse’s bankruptcy in 2008 and the new Eclipse has chosen not to produce it.Cirrus launched its single-engine Cirrus Jet, renamed the Cirrus Vision Jet and the Vision SF50 in 2006 at a ceremony at its Duluth, Minnesota, headquarters. The on again, off again development of the single-engine jet was given a shot in the arm when the company was purchased by Chinese company CAIGA.
