The Cirrus Vision SF50 has passed another key stage on its way to a year-end certification target, with the US Federal Aviation Administration issuing Type Inspection Authorisation, allowing the agency to evaluate the single-engined jet in flight.
The Duluth, Minnesota-based company has spent nine years in an effort to bring the V-tailed aircraft to market alongside the company’s flagship piston-powered SR22.
“This milestone highlights the maturity of our SF50 programme and the FAA’s confidence in our ability to cross the finish line,” says Pat Waddick, president of innovation and operations.
Cirrus has three production-conforming prototypes in flight test. One of the next crucial steps will be the in-flight evaluation of the ballistic-deployed parachute system. As with the SR22, the jet will be fitted with the potentially life-saving feature, although the SF50’s will be installed in the nose rather than behind the cockpit.
Load-bearing tests have been carried out on the parachute over the desert using weights equivalent to that of the aircraft, but an in-flight deployment, necessary for certification to be awarded, will take place “in the next month or two”, says the company.
Also under way are wing and stabiliser cyclic lifespan and stress testing, and interiors and paint schemes are being finalised. The first production aircraft are entering assembly, Cirrus adds.
The Cirrus SF50 is the sole survivor of a flurry of single-engine personal jets launched in the first decade of the 2000s. Other programmes, such as the Diamond D-Jet, Eclipse 400, Piper Altaire and Stratos 714, have all been cancelled or are dormant.
Source: Flight International
