boarding in 1975 In the early 1960s, the three major American
general aviation aircraft manufacturers—
Beechcraft, Cessna and
Piper–faced a competitive challenge in the form of two newly-developed light
business jets, the
Learjet 23 and the
Aero Commander 1121 Jet Commander, which were much less expensive to buy and operate than previous business jets such as the
North American Sabreliner and
Hawker Siddeley HS.125. Previous efforts by Beechcraft and Cessna to market small jets had not met with success: the
Cessna 407, a proposed civil version of the
T-37 Tweet jet trainer, had not proceeded past the mockup stage due to insufficient customer interest, while an effort by Beechcraft to market the
Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris in North America had ended with only two aircraft sold. However, the runaway success of the Learjet caused the two companies—which only manufactured
piston engined aircraft at the time—to reconsider
turbine engined aircraft, and Beechcraft launched two simultaneous efforts: the development of the
turboprop-powered
King Air 90 and an agreement to market the HS.125 in North America. Cessna quickly found that its premium twin piston-engine aircraft were uncompetitive with the King Air, which was substantially faster, yet could be flown by pilots with similar skills and licensing qualifications. However, the company also saw a broad gap between the King Air and existing light jets such as the Learjet, which were far faster but also relatively unforgiving to fly, requiring highly skilled pilots and long runways. Cessna reasoned that a market existed for a light jet that was faster than the King Air but similarly easy to fly, relatively inexpensive to buy and maintain, and able to access small airports with shorter runways. This type of aircraft would appeal to traditional Cessna buyers: amateur owner-pilots who intend to fly the aircraft themselves. In October 1968 Cessna announced an eight place business jet capable of operating from airfields accessible to light twins. The
Fanjet 500 prototype first flew on September 15, 1969.