A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

Six Vision SF50 jets have been delivered to customers since the airplane was certified in October, and Cirrus Aircraft anticipates receiving FAA production certification by the end of June, Gabriel Maestracci, regional directorfor Latin America, told AIN last week at Sun ’n’ Fun. “We should be able to crank up production this summer,” and by year-end deliver “between 40 and 50 [jet] airplanes,” she said. “Our optimum goal is to deliver about 125 per year.” The company holds orders for almost 600 of the $1.96&nbsp;million single-engine jets, with about 75 percent of those sold to current Cirrus piston owners.


More than 80 are bound for Latin America, making Sun ’n’ Fun a prime spot for showcasing the jet. “This would be the Latin Oshkosh,” said Maestracci at the Whelen Demo Area, which was hosting Cirrus’s display of an SF50 cabin mockup and a new SR22 G6 piston. Cirrus collaborated with Whelen Engineering on the G6’s Spectra wingtip LED lights.


One of Cirrus’s Latin customers, Manual Borreo of San Juan, Puerto Rico, SF50 position holder number 67, was with Maestracci. “I just flew the jet five weeks ago, and I really enjoyed the flight,” Borreo said. “It’s just like an SR22: easy to land. I was able to do it the first try.” His jet is scheduled for delivery next spring. For customers ordering jets today, anticipated delivery is four years hence, Maestracci said.


Customers get the keys to their jets at the new Cirrus Aircraft Vision Center campus at McGhee Tyson Airport (KTYS) in Knoxville, Tennessee, typically arriving two weeks beforehand to undergo factory training and earn the required type rating. Cirrus is scheduled to receive a full-motion, level-D SF50 simulator by year-end and will incorporate it into training in early 2018. A factory service center and administrative offices are also located at the Knoxville site.

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