Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet – almost actual size!
Congrats to Cirrus Aircraft on receiving an FAA type certificate for their new SF50 Vision Jet.
I’ve been following the news on this during the last decade of development. General Aviation (GA) moves slowly, but the SF50 and HondaJet show that eventually small aircraft do get certified.
It’s a short-range single-engine 4-seat passenger jet for $1.5 million with a parachute that can be operated for $660/hour.
The numbers:
- 300 KTAS
- 2036′ runway
- 67 knots stall speed
- FL280
- FIKI
- cabin height is only 4.1′.
Obviously it’s intended for existing Cirrus owners who want to step up to a jet.
It uses a Williams FJ33-5A jet engine, similar to the original $800,000 Eclipse 500 jet plans. Williams is a cruise-missile manufacturer, so has lots of manufacturing experience with small jet engines, but not much experience with passenger airplane maintenance.
Cirrus was bought by a Chinese state company, AVIC, in 2011. China has bought most of the American GA manufacturing capacity out of bankruptcy in the past decade to position itself for growth in the emerging Chinese civilian market, including Continental Engines (2010), Superior Air Parts (2008) and Mooney (2013). So far, that has resulted in much-needed investment, though it’s unclear what the long-term implications are for the USA.
avweb.com: Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet: Learning From the Past
aopa.org: Hourly operating costs of 45 jets compared
Mooney’s Fortunes Tied to China