Executive jet maker SyberJet claims light jet Transcon speed record 

Executive jet maker SyberJet Aircraft claimed on August 21, 2026, that one of its SJ30-2 aircraft established a new light jet Transcontinental east-west speed record in the United States. 

The aircraft, with pilot Gordon “Gordy” Bryan at the helm, covered the distance between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego, California, in approximately 4 hours and 7 minutes at an average speed of 505.3 mph (813.2 Km/h). 

Worth noting that the speed record SyberJet Aircraft is claiming is for aircraft within the C-1.f aircraft class, which, under the classification of the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale), refers to powered landplanes (C-1) in the 6,000 to up to 9,000 Kg of weight (.f). 

In the press release announcing this milestone, SyberJet Aircraft stated that the record is expected to be certified by the National Aeronautic Association and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) within approximately 90 days. 

The previous record in this category was established in 2013 by an Embraer Phenom 300, which flew from Melbourne, Florida, to Long Beach, California, with an intermediate stop in El Paso, Texas, for a total transcontinental time of 6 hours 38 minutes, although that time includes the refueling stop. 

Onboard the record-breaking jet was also Trevor Milton, CEO of Arizona-based SyberJet Aircraft. Milton has been a controversial figure in the US business scene since he was convicted in 2022 on fraud charges related to his time leading now-bankrupt electric truck startup Nikola, and was subsequently pardoned in 2025 by President Trump. 

In 2025, just a few months after the presidential pardon, Milton took over SyberJet Aircraft.  

This small executive jet maker has a rather long and protracted history, with many ups and downs. Designer Ed Swearingen conceived the SJ30 jet in the 1980s. This aircraft had its first flight in 1991 and was even showcased at the Paris Air Show that year.  

The company, however, had to stop its development due to lack of funds and was subsequently rescued by Taiwanese investors, which relaunched its executive jet program with the SJ30-2, a stretched version of the SJ30. 

The SJ-30-2 was certified in 2005, although only a very limited number had been built and delivered to customers when the manufacturer went bankrupt in 2010.  

The company has since changed hands several times, and was rebranded in 2011 to “SyberJet Aircraft”. The different owners have since been trying to restart the SJ30 program by coming up with several variations of the original model. 

In 2025, SyberJet Aircraft was taken over by Milton, with the goal of bringing to the market a new model of executive jet, the SJ36, a nine-seat, single-pilot light jet which is also broadly based on the SJ30 platform. 

SyberJet is targeting 2032 for certification and entry into service of this new aircraft type.

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