The big announcement last month from Cirrus is that it achieved FAA certification for its Vision personal jet. With a couple of deliveries expected by the end of 2016—and perhaps as many as 50 or so for 2017—you can bet all eyes at the Cirrus flight ops department will keep a close watch on early adopters. Just how these Williams FJ33-5A turbofan-equipped singles will fare in the hands of jet-world newbies is anyone’s guess, but I asked Matt Bergwall at Cirrus what the training department is doing before the sales department hands over the keys to proud new Vision jet jockeys. After all, Cirrus learned some hard lessons in safety when it delivered its speedy piston-powered SR models nearly 17 years ago. According to Bergwall, planning for the piston-to-turbine transition actually started before the Vision was designed. That’s because from the very beginning, the Vision was designed specifically as a step-up aircraft for the Cirrus SR series owner-pilot demographic.
