When designing a single-engine jet, there are only so many places one can mount the engine. To avoid asymmetric thrust, it must be mounted on the centerline of the fuselage, and doing so introduces new challenges. Something must be done to provide the engine with clean, undisturbed air for the intake, for example, and the design must somehow prevent the hot exhaust from damaging tail surfaces.
In mid 2007, when many manufacturers were developing new designs for the newly-identified very light jet (VLJ) category, Piper began development of their own VLJ with the goal of finding the simplest solution possible. They decided against housing the engine within the fuselage, as this would present complex challenges with regard to ducting airflow cleanly through inlets. Additionally, an engine housed within the fuselage must be engineered to minimize the risk to the occupants in the event of an uncontained compressor blade or disk failure.
