Tri-City Brothers' Experimental Aircraft to Be on Discovery Channel
By Pratik Joshi
Washington state brothers Scott and Dan Hanchette have created a modern experimental aircraft that looks like a fighter jet. The plane was scheduled to be featured on Sept. 19's 10 p.m. episode of "NextWorld," the newest Discovery series about innovative scientific concepts that could alter the future. The Future Flight episode will highlight the brothers' new Viper FanJet, a kit plane that is around 21 percent bigger than their earlier version. It has superior avionics, including a 3-D terrain topography display and collision-avoidance system. The aircraft's integrated flight system is set up to choose the safest corridor between the sky and runway for pilots, states Viper Aircraft Corp. vice president Dan Hanchette. The plane, which will be manufactured from carbon fibers, will be able to fly around 1,450 nautical miles without refueling. A flight-ready plane is predicted to cost around $1.1 million. In addition, the FanJet can be implemented with an ejection system for potential military use.
October 17, 2008
