page_title: Cirrus Vision SF50
section_title: Financing difficulties
hierarchical_section_title: Cirrus Vision SF50 / Development / Financing difficulties
caption_attribution_description: Boeing Field/King County,
context_page_description: The Cirrus Vision SF50 is a single-engine very light jet designed and produced by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
  After receiving deposits starting in 2006, Cirrus unveiled an aircraft mock-up on 28 June 2007 and a prototype on 26 June 2008. It made its maiden flight on 3 July 2008. Development slowed in 2009 due to lack of funding. In 2011 Cirrus was bought by CAIGA, a Chinese enterprise that funded the project a year later. The first conforming prototype subsequently flew on 24 March 2014, followed by two other prototypes that same year. The test flying program resulted in the US Federal Aviation Administration awarding a type certificate on 28 October 2016. Deliveries started on 19 December 2016.
  Powered by a Williams FJ33 turbofan, the all-carbon fiber, low-wing, seven-seat Vision SF50 is pressurized, cruises at 300 kn and has a range of over 1,200 nmi. For emergency use it has a whole-aircraft ballistic parachute system.
  Reviews have compared its performance to high-performance single turboprop aircraft.
context_section_description: In 2009, during the height of the Great Recession, progress on the project slowed significantly. By the end of June, Cirrus co-founder and former CEO Alan Klapmeier proposed  buying the project from the company and its major shareholder Arcapita, to speed up its development and produce it under a new company, which would be advised by Merrill Lynch.
  On 26 July, Alan's brother and fellow Cirrus co-founder Dale Klapmeier came out in support of his efforts and said that Alan was the only person Cirrus would consider letting take over the jet program.
  Cirrus stated that financing the project was necessary to complete certification and commence production, either at Cirrus or with Alan Klapmeier.
  However, on 31 July, Alan Klapmeier announced that the offer did not meet Arcapita's or Cirrus’ expectations. In August, Alan Klapmeier left the company.
  By July 2009, 200 hours of flight tests had been completed and the resulting design changes had been incorporated, including an X tail, simpler and lighter flaps and handling changes to induce a pitch up and not down, when applying thrust. Although some deposits had been refunded, Cirrus had 400 orders and anticipated first deliveries in 2012, subject to capital funding. On 2 September, Cirrus announced its price: US$1.39M for deposit holders, equipped similar to a Cirrus SR22 GTS, US$1.55M with a US$100,000 deposit before the end of the year, and US$1.72M after that, with a US$50,000 deposit. In November 2009, development slowed again due to the lack of capital following the test flights, delaying deliveries to 2012. Cirrus’ leased space in the ex-Northwest hangar in Duluth closed around this time, due to shrinking sales.
  By January 2010, the prototype had accumulated 236 hours, while the certification and delivery timeline was reliant on cash flow, as 428 orders were backlogged and growing by one or two per week. By early June, the then US$1.72M jet had 431 orders, with deposits becoming non-refundable at the beginning of that year. A conforming prototype was expected to be completed by the end of 2010 and fly by the end of 2011, targeting a mid-2013 certification date, while developing the "high-risk" full-aircraft parachute system.
caption: SF50 prototype inflight, May 2010
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