Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet shared-ownership program operator Bop Aero Services has designated the aircraft sales, management, and training provider Elite Aircraft Services as the exclusive provider of initial and recurrent SF50 type training for its owners. Elite is based at Raleigh Executive Jetport (KTTA) in Sanford, North Carolina.
Elite has designed an initial operating experience curriculum in which an instructor pilot accompanies owners on day trips to accumulate 25 hours of flight experience, including stops at Philadelphia International Airport (KPHL) and Teterboro Airport (KTEB), and an international leg to Nassau, Bahamas.
The curriculum, approved by Elite’s insurance underwriter, pairs one-on-one ground instruction with simulator sessions in RealSimGear’s Sfx device, followed by hands-on training in Elite’s SF50 Gen 1.
Raymond Chase, president and CEO of Bop Aero, said the training arrangement gives owner-pilots the flexibility to use their aircraft as part of the training, which he said offers familiarization with the aircraft they own, as well as cost savings.
Matt Walsh, CEO of Elite Aircraft Services, said the program offers “existing Elite customers a path to Vision Jet ownership that, through Bop Aero, doesn't require the outright purchase of an entire aircraft.”
Elite Aircraft Services has also entered into an options agreement for one or more shares in Bop Aero’s program to support long-term aircraft availability for training clients as the program expands.
Elite has been designated the program’s commercial launch customer. The shared-ownership structure underpinning the training agreement carries its own terms: the base program includes no buyback provision, though one is available through an add-on option, Chase said. Owners may sell their shares at any time, and shared owners retain majority equity in each aircraft.
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