First Flight Expected Soon... VERY Soon

She's almost ready for prime-time... and very close to seeing light under her wheels. Cirrus told ANN late Thursday the highly-anticipated "The-Jet" is ready for taxi tests.

Over the past few months, the Advanced Development Group at Cirrus has achieved several significant milestones leading to the completion of the test aircraft, called 'V1'. With the ceremonial handoff of the keys to the flight test group earlier this week, the team now begins a very methodical process to ensure V1 is ready to fly safely and within very specific flight parameters set for the first flight.

"Even at this critical stage, the team is approaching its work and the impending flight schedule with the same careful diligence and thoughtful planning as it has from the onset of the program," said ADG Vice President Mike VanStaagen. "As exciting as we all are about the special milestone we know is just ahead of us, we have to take the same measured approach as always to ensure both aircraft and pilot safety and ensure that we accomplish our program goals at every juncture, including taxi testing and first flight." 

First unveiled in mock-up form one year ago Saturday, "The-Jet" sports a v-tail empennage arrangement, to make room for the single Williams turbofan carried atop the raked fuselage in a smoothly integrated fairing. The lines of the fuselage carry forward to a bulbous roofline over the cockpit, which offers seating for a pilot and four adult passengers -- one in the right seat, and three behind.

Seating is configurable for as many as seven passengers, including smaller seats for children, in a configuration Cirrus calls "five-plus." As with all Cirrus production aircraft, the plane also sports a whole-airplane parachute.

Cirrus has admittedly lowly -- some would say "realistic" -- performance expectations for its first-ever turbofan-powered aircraft. Billed proudly by Cirrus as the "slowest, lowest, and cheapest jet available," "The-Jet" is expected to fly at close to 300 knots at FL250.

FMI: www.the-jet.com, www.cirrusdesign.com