Cirrus Slows SF50 Jet Single Program

By: Mark Huber

October 20, 2009
Aircraft

Cirrus Design vice president of domestic sales Jon Dauplaise told AIN today at the NBAA Convention that development work on the company’s SF50 Vision jet has slowed, a number of employees working on the program have been laid off and the program has been moved out of its dedicated hangar at the Duluth (Minn.) Airport into “consolidated facilities” after the company fell $250,000 behind on its rent. He added that the company is concentrating on maintaining its core piston aircraft business, though limited flight testing is continuing on the SF50 jet single prototype, which recently returned to Duluth after being flown around the country on a marketing campaign.

“Next week it will be back out on the road going to Nashville, Atlanta and Orlando. Just to get it out there and let people know the program is still going forward.

Cirrus has a mockup, not the actual aircraft, at the NBAA Convention this week. Dauplaise said some depositors have requested refunds and acknowledged that Cirrus had been late in making some of those refunds.

Back

Dassault Reports Record Deliveries, Plummeting Sales March 18, 2010 Dassault Aviation yesterday reported contrasting results for last year, with a negative net order tally of -163 Falcon business jets, but a... [more]
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]