Piper PA-47 PiperJet

The PA-47 PiperJet was a single-engined very light jet that Piper Aircraft announced in October 2006 as a rival to the twin-engined Eclipse 500 and Cessna Citation Mustang. It was to carry up to seven passengers at around 360 knots to 35,000 feet over a range near 1,300 nautical miles, powered by a Williams FJ44-3AP turbofan mounted on the tail, which made it the first proposed single-engined civilian aircraft with a podded engine there. Because the engine sat above the centre of gravity, adding power pushed the nose down, so Piper first used an automatic pitch trim and later a vectored thrust nozzle. The fuselage was based on the Piper PA-46 cross section. About 180 pre-orders were reported by February 2007, but delivery slipped repeatedly, and the design was reworked in 2010 as the PiperJet Altaire, which was cancelled in October 2011.