Officials from the FAA visited Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth, Minnesota, on Tuesday to award the company with a production certificate for the Cirrus jet. The certification means that FAA staffers no longer need to check each individual jet before delivery, which will help the company to ramp up its production. “We are just reaching one a week production rate,” Cirrus operations president Pat Waddick told the local ABC News. “And later this year, we’ll be increasing our rates even higher, and to do this we’re adding new team members every day.” The company has 600 orders in hand for the jet, Waddick said, and he expects to add 100 jobs by the end of the year, at Cirrus facilities in Duluth, Grand Forks, and Knoxville, Tennessee.
The single-engine jet, which sells for about $2 million, was certified by the FAA in October, and deliveries began in December. The jet is designed to be owner-flown, with a Cirrus Perspective Touch cockpit by Garmin that’s similar to the avionics that Cirrus piston pilots are used to, and single-lever FADEC engine control. It also includes an airframe parachute system.
