Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

Cirrus Aircraft brought a Vision Jet to the LABACE static display, demonstrating the utility of the single-engine personal jet for efficient transportation in Brazil and Latin America. The SR22 G6 Potenza will also be on static display at the Cirrus exhibit.

 


In the São Paulo area, Cirrus is well represented by authorized service centers, including Aristek Comércio Aeronáutico in São Paulo and America Do Sul Services in Soracaba.

 


More than 50 of the all-composite SF50 Vision Jets have been delivered thus far, and Cirrus expects the first one for Brazil to enter service in late 2018 or early 2019.

 


Cirrus has delivered more than 7,000 of its single-engine piston-powered SR20s and SR22s and Vision Jets worldwide. The order backlog of more than 600 SF50 Vision Jets is worth more than $1 billion at the $1.96-million price tag.

 


Cirrus first unveiled the Vision Jet’s unique configuration in 2007, with a single 1,800-pound-thrust Williams FJ33-5A turbofan engine mounted on the top rear of the fuselage, between the V-tailed empennage. The cabin can carry up to seven occupants.

 


From the beginning, Cirrus touted the Vision jet as “the slowest, lowest, and cheapest jet available,” and its projected performance and price targeted owners of SR20s and SR22s who wanted a move-up option in the Cirrus family. Until the jet came along, the upgrade choice was either a multiengine piston twin such as the Beechcraft Baron or Piper Seneca; a Piper, TBM or Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop; or a more expensive light jet.

 


<h2>Automotive Styling</h2>

 


With the SR20 and SR22, Cirrus brought not only modern luxury automotive styling to the general aviation market, but also high performance in a simple, fixed-landing-gear design and, controversially, adding a whole-airplane parachute system that could save the occupants in case of an emergency.

 


The reason the parachute was controversial has a lot to do with pilots’ egos; few pilots like to admit they can’t handle an emergency situation. But the fact that whole-airplane parachutes have saved hundreds of lives and Cirrus’s recent focus on teaching pilots to use the parachute in almost any emergency have proven the benefit.

 


The parachute is such an important element of Cirrus’s design DNA that it became an essential part of the Vision jet. For those who claim they aren’t comfortable flying a single-engine airplane, the parachute offers an additional and proven layer of safety. Some pilots who fly multi-engine business jets have said that the parachute is almost like having a second engine, so perhaps the Vision jet will find a market for professionally flown transportation apart from the owner-flown niche. In the many mountainous and sparsely populated areas in Brazil and Latin America, the parachute could prove a life-saver.

 


<h2>SR Versus SF50</h2>

 


What sets the SR piston singles and the Vision jet apart are some subtle differences. Of course, the jet is an entirely different airplane, with significantly better performance, but from the pilot’s perspective, there are many familiar elements.

 


The jet’s Perspective Touch avionics suite remains a Garmin system, but with G3000-type touchscreen controllers. There are three GTC 580 touchscreen controllers arranged in landscape format instead of the typical portrait mode found in other G3000 implementations. One of the GTC 580s (the left-side unit) doubles as a backup display, so there is no need for separate backup instrumentation. The GTCs are arranged under the main displays, which turns out to be more natural than side- or console-mounted controllers, because the touching action is physically closer to what’s happening on the two primary flight displays and single multifunction display (all measure 14.1 inches).

 


Standard avionics includes the GFC 700 autopilot, synthetic vision, GTX 33 mode-S transponder, ADS-B Out, and Sirius XM weather/radio receiver. Optional equipment, which most buyers will likely want, adds enhanced vision (infrared), TCAS-1, TAWS-B, ADS-B In, GWX 70 weather radar, Iridium transceiver, and Wi-Fi datalink.

 


A welcome change for the Vision jet is the sidestick flight control, one for each pilot. While the stick is in about the same place as in the SR—on the pilot’s left side and rightseater’s right side—the jet’s control is a true sidestick, not the side yoke in the SR. A side yoke travels fore and aft (toward the panel and away) for pitch and pivots side to side for bank. It’s not unnatural but is something new SR pilots need to get used to. A true sidestick like the jet’s pivots forward and backward for pitch and sideways for bank, which means the pilot doesn’t have to move an arm when pitching; all control movement happens with wrist movement.

 


SR pilots will find the jet’s ground steering familiar because to keep the airplane simple, Cirrus opted for a fully castering nosewheel, so taxiing requires the use of brakes for steering.

 


<h2>Generous Cabin</h2>

 


The Vision jet probably wouldn’t have attracted as many sales if Cirrus designers hadn’t added the larger cabin, which has a volume of 170 cubic feet (4.8 cubic meters) Seven seats may seem improbable in an airplane of this size, but it is possible to fly with that many, as long as the two aftmost right- and left-side passengers are small enough (each can hold a person weighing up to 90 pounds).

 


The cabin is spacious, stretching to a maximum interior width of 61 inches at the middle seats, and tapering to about 50 inches at the rear, with a length of 137.8 inches (350 centimeters).

 


All of the seats can be removed to create even more space. An optional toilet is available and takes up one of the center seat spaces, but this is not a permanent installation and is easy to move in and out.

 


The seats each have a cupholder, a two-amp USB outlet and a headphone connector. The externally accessible baggage compartment measures 23.5 cu ft, and an optional extender adds another 33.9 inches and 12 inches in height (3.9 cu ft) along the bottom of the 35-inch-long compartment.

 


A big part of the appeal of the Vision jet is not just its price ($1.96 million base, $2.3 million typically equipped), but where it fits in the general aviation marketplace. As yet, there is nothing that competes with the Vision jet’s unique price/performance niche. The airplane is capable of flying more than 1,000 nm (1,852 kilometers) at 300 ktas or 1,200-plus nm at 240 ktas (NBAA IFR range), but most owners will probably fly much shorter trips and carry small loads, which is typical of business aircraft travel. With a full load of fuel, the jet can carry almost 500 pounds (227 kilos) of payload, plenty for two average-size people and baggage.

 


<h2>Trophy Winner</h2>

 


On June 14, Cirrus received the National Aeronautic Association’s (NAA) 2017 Robert J. Collier Trophy for the Vision single-engine jet. The NAA cited the Duluth, Minnesota-based company’s efforts in “designing, certifying, and entering-into-service the Vision Jet—the world’s first single-engine general aviation personal jet aircraft with a whole-airframe parachute system.”

 


The Collier Trophy is awarded annually “for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year.”

 


“At Cirrus, we are honored and humbled to be awarded the 2017 Collier Trophy and to even be mentioned among the giants in aviation and space research that have won before us,” said Dale Klapmeier, Cirrus Aircraft co-founder and CEO. “The arrival of the Vision Jet has forever changed general aviation and personal transportation, and the 2017 Collier Trophy is dedicated to all of our employees and partners who have been a part of the development, production, and now delivery of this airplane.”

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