Cirrus Receives Vision Jet Production Certificate

The FAA today awarded Cirrus Aircraft the production certificate for the SF50 Vision, the world's first single-engine "personal" jet aimed at pilots who want to fly themselves at turbine speeds in the flight levels.

The approval will allow Cirrus to accelerate aircraft deliveries as Vision jets move down the production line at the company’s headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota. Cirrus currently holds around 600 orders for the jet, which earned FAA certification last October and is expected to receive European approval from EASA soon.

Senior FAA officials handed over the Vision’s production certificate to Cirrus Aircraft president Pat Waddick at a press event in Duluth this afternoon. The approval will allow Cirrus to ramp up production to about one aircraft per week by the summer as the company works toward a goal of reaching an eventual production rate of around 125 Vision jets per year.

The Vision is intended as a single-pilot-friendly personal airplane that has seven seats, a 300 ktas cruise speed, ceiling of 28,000 feet and the first full-airframe parachute in a jet. While the Vision will make for a great step-up platform for owners of the Cirrus SR22 and other high-performance piston models, it is expected to draw interest from commercial air-taxi operators seeking to provide economical regional transporations solutions.

Priced at around $2 million, the Vision comes standard with the Perspective Touch cockpit based on Garmin’s G3000 avionics system and a single, fadec-controlled Williams FJ33-5A turbofan engine.