Shown To Customers Wednesday; Public Unveiling Thursday Afternoon

"the-jet"... is here. On Wednesday, Cirrus Design Corporation fulfilled its promise to a select group of customers by giving them the world's first look at "the-jet" -- the most anticipated new aircraft in the company's history. Each guest had placed a $100,000 deposit for their first "personal" jet.

The company’s tight control of the project was evidenced even further by the fact its own employees who were not directly working on the project were not able to see "the-jet" until hours before the depositors' showing Wednesday night. The rest of the world got its first peek at "the-jet" mockup at a special event held at the company's Duluth, MN headquarters Thursday afternoon.

"We're calling it a 'personal jet', not because of its size but because it's a natural extension of our SR22 line," said Cirrus co-founder and CEO Alan Klapmeier. "Like the SR22, 'the-jet' is designed to be owner flown and it will be loaded with innovative features, including the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. While it's technologically advanced, it's designed to be exceptionally easy to fly, offering customers the opportunity to grow into yet another lifestyle change with Cirrus."

Most striking about "the-jet's" shape is the 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.

What's more, seating is configurable for as many as seven passengers, including smaller seats for children, in a configuration Cirrus calls "five-plus."

"We are in the early design and development phase and didn’t want to limit ourselves in any way. It is also important that any data we released was absolutely accurate," said co-founder and Vice Chairman Dale Klapmeier.

Cirrus says there are many more details to be announced, and information will be released as they are finalized.

"The information we were trying to protect during the past years of product development was the unusual amount of versatility and flexibility that has been incorporated into an airplane of this size," Vice President of Advanced Development Mike Van Staagen said. "The flexibility is even more surprising given this airplane is designed specifically for a single owner/operator.

"The design is precisely configured to maximize flexibility for the owner," he added. "Mountain bikes, camping equipment, golf clubs, skis, bigger families, antique spinning wheel? No problem! 'the-jet' will deliver more value because its cavernous interior accommodates very diverse usage, and while doing this all at about 300 kts."

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