Start-up company plans new twinjet STOL aircraft
British company Avcen has designed an innovative ducted-fan twinjet, called the Jetpod, that it claims will cruise at 300 knots yet take off and land in sl

British company Avcen has designed an innovative ducted-fan twinjet, called the Jetpod, that it claims will cruise at 300 knots yet take off and land in slightly more than 400 feet. The owners are currently looking for investors to help them to move the project off the drawing board and into proof-of-concept flight trials.

The owners describe the Jetpod as a very quiet short take-off and landing (VQSTOL) aircraft, powered by directional jets that employ a combination of horizontal and vertical thrust to achieve short-field performance. Avcen managing director Mike Dacre said it also boasts advanced noise attenuation technologies that reduce the noise output of any existing 3,500-pound-thrust gas turbine by up to two stages of jet noise–that is, by as much as 50 percent. He claims that the sticker price for the Jetpod will be less than $1 million.