DULUTH, Minn. — Cirrus Aircraft reports the successful first flight of its second certification flight test aircraft, C-One (C1), in the Vision SF50 personal jet program.
This achievement marks the most recent milestone for the program as C1 joins C0 in FAA certification activities, company officials said.
C1’s first flight took place on Nov. 25 at approximately 3:30 PM CST from Duluth International Airport. Upon completion of the 45 minute flight, Experimental Flight Test Pilot Terry LeSage reported, “All systems operated as expected and C1 handled quite nicely, just as we predicted.”
“Thanksgiving is a very appropriate week for the first flight of C1 to occur,” said Dale Klapmeier, CEO and Co-founder, Cirrus Aircraft. “We can all be thankful for the continued hard work and dedication of the entire Cirrus team and our partners as we continue to change the face of personal aviation. Together we have achieved another major milestone and we can look forward with excitement to our goal of elevating the personal flying experience with this clean-sheet design.”
Cirrus Aircraft plans to have three aircraft dedicated to certification flight-testing in the Vision SF50 personal jet program. C1 is the second aircraft to join the program and will be used for an array of certification efforts including Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI) testing.
C0, the first certification flight test aircraft, joined the program on March 24, 2014, and has accumulated nearly 220 flight hours over 150 flights. This aircraft has primarily been used for aerodynamic performance and handling testing and will continue to expand its flight test regime as the program progresses.
The third and final flight test aircraft, C-Two (C2), will be used for reliability testing, optional equipment testing and is expected to join the program in the near future.
The Vision SF50 features a high-end cruise speed of 300 KTAS, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) and an all-carbon fiber structure. Current list price is $1.96 million. First customer deliveries are planned for the fourth quarter of 2015.