Cirrus Vision Jet

[wings&wheels]

Doing our pre-flight, and this pulls up. First one I've seen in the flesh.....in the fiber. We had to be somewhere before close, so I did not have time to poke around much but what an interesting aircraft. Quite a bit louder than I expected, and the tail surfaces are huge and rather ungainly.

I think this is a wonderful airplane as are all Cirrus, and I hope they sell all they make, but to me they are ugly as are all Cirrus. Composite tadpoles w/ airfoils. I fly for fun and I have to like what I fly and I'm not sure I'd enjoy walking up to this....for the $, pass me a used PC12 please. Thank you.

What do I know, I like steam gauges and rivets...

 

[JavierH19]

Isn't this that plane with the emergency parachute. And I believe I read an article years ago about it being the first plane to be certified to have a pushable "land at nearest airport" button which is great that it's no longer a joke but a real thing. I couldn't imagine being the wife or passenger of some wealthy guy that flies his own plane and seeing him have a heart attack leaving him incapacitated without any ability to fly it yourself while quickly running out of time since you're nearing the end of your tank. Just plain terrifying. Those two features are incredible.

 

[wings&wheels]

I couldn't imagine being the wife of some wealthy guy that flies his own plane and seeing him have a heart attack leaving him incapacitated without any ability to fly it yourself back to the poolboy, while quickly running out of time since you're nearing the end of your tank. Just plain terrifying. Those two features are incredible.

Fixed it for you, my inner juvenile couldn't resist.

Yes, they are remarkable aircraft and I hope to see the emergency autoland have wider adoption in general aviation. Game changer, business wise, as was the ballistic recovery chute.

 

[JavierH19]

Fixed it for you, my inner juvenile couldn't resist.

Yes, they are remarkable aircraft and I hope to see the emergency autoland have wider adoption in general aviation. Game changer, business wise, as was the ballistic recovery chute.

That's a good one. But I'm surprised only 3 planes so far have gotten the emergency autoland after almost 5 years but I guess stuff takes time in the aviation space if one isn't in the front of the line. I'm sure garmin has to do a ton of stuff before they'll pass it. Not a simple copy and paste feature I assume.

 

[Astro14]

Let’s clarify a couple things - the parachute (CAPS in Cirrus lingo) destroys the airplane. Yep, safe landing, but pilots have been reticent to pull it knowing that it wrecks the airplane.

Auto-land is both expensive and limited in capability. It’s not the panacea that lay people assume.

 

[wings&wheels]

...the parachute (CAPS in Cirrus lingo) destroys the airplane. Yep, safe landing, but pilots have been reticent to pull it knowing that it wrecks the airplane.

Auto-land is both expensive and limited in capability. It’s not the panacea that lay people assume.

Violent agreement from a technical perspective, but business wise, what a marketing move and not necessarily aimed towards the pilot. I suspect CAPS has helped sell a few airplanes around the dinner table. I would also expect some benefits manufacturers' liability wise, but that is such a complex area, who knows.

The auto-land capabilities fascinate me, but I don't know enough about its applications in GA.

 

[tbm5690]

It is very much an entry-level jet marketed to current SR owners that want to be able to say they own a jet. There are much better choices...a PC-12 destroys it on range, useful load, and pax capacity. As far as CAPS goes it's very much a sell it to your wife feature IMO. What Cirrus does with composites is pretty cool though.

 

[Astro14]

It is very much an entry-level jet marketed to current SR owners that want to be able to say they own a jet. There are much better choices...a PC-12 destroys it on range, useful load, and pax capacity. As far as CAPS goes it's very much a sell it to your wife feature IMO. What Cirrus does with composites is pretty cool though.

“Destroys”??

The Pilatus is a 6 passenger plane with a similar ceiling, similar short field, a bit slower cruise, 50% more range and bit more payload.

While costing twice as much.

So, for half the price, the Vision jet goes just as fast, climbs just as well, has similar short field performance and carries 4 in comfort.

If I was writing the check - I might go with the Vision and put the $3 million I save into insurance, annuals and fuel. I can’t imagine where I would need more than 4 and most of the time it would be 2.

I’d rather have the jet.

 

[fdcg27]

This is not a pretty airplane, but it does seem pretty capable and the BRS has saved some GA pilot's butts in other Cirrus aircraft.
Better to destroy the airplane with a good chance of surviving the event than to destroy the airplane while killing all aboard.

 

[Cujet]

Having operated PC12's for more than 20 years, from the 45 to the 47 and then the NGX, I can say with authority that the PC-12 does far more than the Cirrus Jet could ever do, including unimproved short strips. And it's block to block times are roughly the same at any distance.

When I'd give a tour of company aircraft, I'd open the PC-12's pallet capable cargo door and point to the placard there and say something like: That little placard makes this airplane so good. Cargo 3300Lbs is what it said.

280Kts, 30,000 ceiling, 60GPH, 9 seats, and the ability to quickly unclip the seats to carry 3,300 pounds of cargo.

We put a full sized dresser in there, with tons of room to spare.

 

[97prizm]

Doing our pre-flight, and this pulls up. First one I've seen in the flesh.....in the fiber. We had to be somewhere before close, so I did not have time to poke around much but what an interesting aircraft. Quite a bit louder than I expected, and the tail surfaces are huge and rather ungainly.

I think this is a wonderful airplane as are all Cirrus, and I hope they sell all they make, but to me they are ugly as are all Cirrus. Composite tadpoles w/ airfoils. I fly for fun and I have to like what I fly and I'm not sure I'd enjoy walking up to this....for the $, pass me a used PC12 please. Thank you.

What do I know, I like steam gauges and rivets...

View attachment 252562

Back in the day Piper was testing a single engine jet before the market went kaput in 08. It had a really odd flying characteristic where it would nose down on full-throttle. I wonder how Cirrus got a work around?

 

[wings&wheels]

Back in the day Piper was testing a single engine jet before the market went kaput in 08. It had a really odd flying characteristic where it would nose down on full-throttle. I wonder how Cirrus got a work around?

That was a neat concept, looked like a DC-10 without the wing mounted engines. I liked that it was of conventional construction and evolutionary to some extent being based on the fuselage of their other aircraft IIRC. Bad timing though.... I feel it could have been a success if they had persevered or been able to if they had the financial strength to continue.

 

[DuckRyder]

So the thing goes 360 mph?

Its not really pretty.

Don't V35s have a reputation for treacherous handling? Wonder if these are the same? I guess if you can afford the price of entry you can afford to learn to fly it.

 

[wings&wheels]

So the thing goes 360 mph?

Its not really pretty.

Don't V35s have a reputation for treacherous handling? Wonder if these are the same? I guess if you can afford the price of entry you can afford to learn to fly it.

I would not say the V Bonanza's have a reputation for being treacherous to fly as much as being a bit demanding or unforgiving. They are a high performance single and must be flown as such. The V tails had some issues, the early ruddervators were required to be strengthened IIRC, but flightwise except for a bit of a wagging tendency they are fine. I don't have much Bonanza time, but I enjoyed all of it and I love the airplane so I may be biased! I think the whole Bonanza line, especially the V tails, to be beautiful...how an airplane should look.