Cirrus Rolls Out ‘SJX’ Personal Jet

By: Chad Trautvetter

July 1, 2008
Aircraft

Duluth, Minn.-based Cirrus Design rolled out its single-engine jet prototype on Thursday, almost a year to the day after it unveiled a cabin mock-up to customers and the press. The company has started engine and ground runs on the airplane in anticipation of first flight, which could be conducted as early as this month.

Dubbed “V1” by Cirrus, the prototype (N280CJ) is registered to “Cirrus Jet Co.,” according to FAA records. While the aircraft manufacturer refers to the model as “the-jet,” the FAA registry identifies it as the SJX, which would be in line with the naming convention for Cirrus’ SR20 and SR22 pistons (“S” stands for “single” and “R” stands for “reciprocating engine”).

Logically, the “J” in the model name stands for “jet,” but Cirrus won’t comment on whether the “X” will stay or be replaced later by a model number. Although a final name and price have yet to be set for the personal jet, Cirrus claims it has orders for more than 460 of the airplanes, each backed by refundable $100,000 deposits.

Certification of the Cirrus jet is scheduled for late 2010.

Back

Second Gulfstream G650 Enters Flight-test Program March 02, 2010 The second Gulfstream G650–known as test article two, or T2 for short–completed its maiden flight from Savannah/Hilton Head International... [more]
Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 Programs Making Headway March 01, 2010 Embraer said production of the Legacy 500’s first parts has begun at suppliers’ facilities. The nose and main landing-gear forgings arrived at... [more]
Cirrus certification date uncertain as tests proceed March 01, 2010 Despite the difficulties it has faced in obtaining development funding for its SF50 Vision jet single, Minn.-based Cirrus Aircraft still... [more]
Dassault Falcon 7X Gets Chinese Papers March 01, 2010 The Dassault Falcon 7X received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. All in-production Falcon models are now... [more]
Aerion Study Shows Interest in SSBJs March 01, 2010 Reno, Nev.-based Aerion is evaluating preliminary results of a new global market survey indicating strong demand for its proposed supersonic... [more]