On the second anniversary of the supersonic world land speed record set by the ThrustSSC rocket-powered car, Richard Noble's new company, Farnborough-Aircraft.com, announced that it is developing a new single engined turboprop, the Farnborough F1. Noble has taken advantage of kudos garnered from his record-breaking achievement to provide a backdrop for his next aim - no less than to "revolutionise the way people travel." \rThe F1 was announced on October 14. It has been designed specifically with the intention of creating a new market for point to point travel. According to Noble it will be capable of taking off from all but the smallest of airstrips and carrying five passengers at speeds of up to 330 knots, to a range of 1,000 miles. He referred to it as "a new class of rural aeroplane."\r"Most people live or work within 20 minutes travel of an existing airfield," claimed a spokesman for Farnborough-Aircraft.com. "The true potential of air travel will only be unleashed when it is distributed from a few large airports to the thousands of small airfields next to the places where people work."\rNASA is developing a similar programme in the US, termed "Small Aircraft Transportation System" (SATS). NASA estimates that the average speed of travel on a scheduled airline flight from doorstep to destination is 50-60 mph. Noble is aiming to develop a service that will be capable of maintaining an average of 200 mph throughout the journey. "Distributed air travel is coming," said Noble. "If we in Britain don't accept the challenge offered by this opportunity, others will. We welcome competition; this is a huge market and there is plenty of room for everyone." \rIn Europe, approval of single engine turboprops is confused, but Noble said that there is now "a clear majority acceptance." FAA changes to FAR 135 in 1998 legalised single engine turboprop aircraft in the UK during daylight hours only. In August, the Single Engine Turboprop Alliance (SETA) compiled a report in which it claimed unanimous support for the Advanced Notice of Proposed Amendment (ANPA) to JAR OPS-1 regulations that would allow full commercial IFR operations in JAA countries. At the time, SETA principal Langhorne Bond expressed the view that sufficient desire for change exists to see the current regulations replaced within six months.\rFarnborough-Aircraft.com ambitiously claims that it could sell 13,000 F-1s worldwide to fulfill initial demand, with further orders running to around 1,900 per annum. The expected annual delivery rate for the most closely comparable aircraft, the Piper Meridian, is 40 for 2000, rising to 80 in 2001, so Noble's prediction anticipates sales at an unprecedented level. \rTwo prototypes of the aeroplane will be built by 2002 according to Farnborough-Aircraft.com and certification is scheduled for 2003. Deliveries could begin in 2004, with full cloned international production from 2005. The F1's airframe, already tested in the wind tunnel at Cranfield, is made entirely out of carbon composite materials, which are lighter and cheaper to manufacture than aluminium. The engine, a Pratt & Whitney PT6, operates at 1,700rpm, and is said to produce only 75 decibels at 1,000 feet. The aircraft's performance is likened by its designers to a world war two Spitfire: it is able to climb and approach steeply to further reduce the noise footprint. \rFinancing and marketing of the Farnborough F1 will be guided by lessons learnt from the ThrustSSC programme. Thrust's website received 58 million hits during 1997's record attempt, and when the venture ran out of money, an internet appeal raised funds to buy 30,000 gallons of fuel a day for the car. Consequently, the F1 will be designed and built live on the internet, and will eventually be sold exclusively through the internet - there will be no aircraft dealers for the new aircraft.\rNoble emphasised what he sees as the necessity for money to be raised from private investors rather than from corporations to ensure minimal investor interference, an opinion formed during the ThrustSSC campaign. Farnborough-Aircraft.com anticipates an initial outlay of only between UK£15 and £30 million on the project. Piper said that its outlay for the Meridian was "a figure which is an order of magnitude larger" than Noble's prediction. "A major difficulty is Britain's notorious lack of institutional venture capital and the criminalisation of non-approved public fund raising, which makes generation of high risk speculative funding for new programmes very difficult," complained a spokesman for Farnborough-Aircraft.com. Currently, UK law prohibits public appeals for sponsorship from private individuals. However, shares may be offered to investors if they are members of a "club" affiliated to the venture. \rNoble has set up the "Farnborough Airforce," which so far has 350 members recruited from ThrustSSC's fan club. Noble aims to gain 10,000 members during the year 2000, and hopes to raise UK£2 million. Aeromodelling, lectures and hands-on flying opportunities are offered by the club. Merchandise such as baseball jackets and flight bags is also available. \rAt US$1.9 million the F-1 is more expensive than the Piper Meridian. Noble asserts that the optimum performance offered by his aircraft will offset this higher cost. Assuming 1,000 hours per annum utilisation and a cruise speed of 345 mph, Farnborough-Aircraft.com predict that the F-1's operating costs will be around UK£1.01/ mile in Europe and $1.18/ mile in the US.\r"The F-1 enables highly cost effective operations over a 1,000 mile radius. Internet booking or scheduling and point to point flights on demand will minimise waste of expensive executive time," Noble said. Despite the fact that there are currently 600 new business jets on order, Noble believes that they are not the solution to increasing airline congestion. A press release from Farnborough-Aircraft.com opines that business jets are "expensive, oversize, intrusive and inflexible, while the new fractional ownership deals look like being able to offer only poor availability and also expensive time. "As regards the issue of passenger comfort, the F-1 will be more BMW, and less Rolls-Royce. It is not your leather seats and gold taps affair," commented Richard Noble.