Polish car-part manufacturer Metal Master has for years been working on a very light jet named Flaris LAR 1, which was on the road to its first flight in early 2015. The company has now mounted a new engine, the Williams FJ33-5A, to the tail section of the tiny fuselage. The engine received FAA certification in June and this week marked its first start-up mounted on the Flaris jet.
The Williams engine replaces the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engine that was initially selected for the LAR 1. The company completed the initial taxi test phase with that engine, but the airplane never flew.
At 2,000 pounds of thrust the FJ33-5A generates a lot more thrust than the PW610F would have for the LAR 1. The company claims the light jet was designed to take off and land at short grass strips, having a takeoff run of only 820 feet. Top cruise speed has been published at 380 knots cruise speed with a range of 1,400 nm with four people on board. Those are all ambitious targets. When and if we will see the Flaris fly remains to be seen.
