Fri, Jun 27, 2008
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.
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