Adam Aircraft president Joe Walker is optimistic that his company will receive FAA certification late this year for its very light jet. According to Walker, the A700 shares 65-percent commonality with Adam’s A500 centerline-thrust piston twin, which obtained “baseline” FAA approval last May. Of the 250 FAA certification reports required for A700 approval, he said 75 are exact copies of those already submitted and approved for the A500; 100 are modified A500 reports; and 75 are all-new reports.

Two A700 AdamJets have logged about 500 flight hours since early last month. S/N 001, a nonconforming prototype, has expanded the altitude envelope to 38,000 feet and was recently fitted with an upgraded environmental control system that has better heating and defogging capabilities. The first production A700–S/N 002, the aerodynamics and powerplant test aircraft–has accumulated more than 30 flight hours since its first flight in early February.

S/N 003, which will be used to test flight systems, is currently being assembled and will likely come online in early October. The first customer aircraft, S/N 004, is scheduled to join the test fleet late this year to complete the required function and reliability testing before being delivered to its owner early next year.

The next delivery slot for one of the $2.25 million cabin-class VLJs is the second quarter of 2008. Walker said Adam has firm orders for 286 A700s, of which 61 are for individual customers and 225 are for fleet operators (including the order for 75 aircraft from air-limo hopeful Pogo).