Winning the support and loyalty of pilots is no easy proposition for an aircraft manufacturer. Considering the inherent risk in aviation, pilots are attentive to any perceived trade-off, whether from a cost-benefit, safety or features standpoint.
Cirrus Aircraft Corporation has been dedicated to solving this challenge since 1984, when the now Chinese State-owned, Minnesota-based company was co-founded by current chairman Dale Klapmeier and his brother Alan. Over nearly 30 years, Cirrus has built a strong reputation for building multiple versions of its two certificated single-engine piston-prop planes, the SR20 and SR22.
Building such a stellar track record in propeller craft, however, has not deterred Cirrus from expanding its sights. So twelve years after development began, the company has unveiled its biggest gamble yet: the Vision SF50, a product it describes as a ‘personal jet’.
The SF50 aims to spark a revolution in private jet ownership. Powered by a single Williams FJ33 engine, it’s not actually a Very Light Jet (VLJ), rather it’s designed to fill the significant niche between a piston single and twin and a VLJ. “We have designed this aircraft for its owner to fly, therefore it had to be easy to fly,” says Klapmeier. So, Cirrus will make the cockpit an easy step-up for pilots accustomed to piston aircraft by equipping it with similar controls and a host of automated features, including the G1000 integrated flight instrument system by Garmin.
Emerging with an innovative V-tail design, the 2-million-USD SF50 is expected to cruise as fast as 300 knots (556 km/h), as high as 8,500 metres (28,000 feet) and have a range of 2,220 kilometres. “With the Vision I can go further, faster and higher, carrying a little bit more. That’s what it’s all about,” continues Klapmeier.
The SF50 will seat as many as five adults and two children and the company’s trademark full-airframe parachute will be built in as standard. The company says that this system has been deployed in about 30 instances and has saved 53 lives.
Since the concept craft’s first flight in 2008, the procurement of funding to complete certification and production serves as a direct measure of the SF-50’s perceived viability and over 430 of them are already on order. “The Vision Jet is a global aeroplane, it is required in every part of the globe. We want to grow aviation everywhere and the Personal Jet will be the way we do that.” First customer delivery is set for 2015 and if all goes well, for Cirrus, the sky may no longer be the limit.
MODEL Vision SF-50
MANUFACTURER Cirrus Aircraft
DETAILS First flights took place in 2008, first deliveries will be in 2015.
WHY Unlike regular jets that require a professional pilot to fly them, the Vision will be the sportscar of the aviation world and open up the skies for the rest of us.
