Cirrus in LSA as of this morning. But not with a new design

Cirrus Design is entering the LSA market. At 9:30 this morning they
unveiled, appropriately hidden beneath a parachute, their Cirrus SRS. The
aircraft will be produced in conjunction with Fk Lightplanes based in
Speyer, Germany, with production facilities in Poland. The aircraft is a
low-wing two-place side-by-side aircraft powered by a a 100 HP Rotax 912S
engine. First deliveries are expected in approximately one year.

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as the FK-14
model. Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus, said "We're going to Cirrus-ize
the airplane a bit to create what we believe is the best aircraft for the
LSA market." He went on to say, "We believe it's important for every
aircraft manufacturer to grow the market to bring more people into flying
and that's why we decided to bring an LSA into our family of aircraft." For
more information, visit www.cirrusdesign.com or www.fk-lightplanes.com

On Jul 23, 2:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:
Cirrus Design is entering the LSA market. At 9:30 this morning they
unveiled, appropriately hidden beneath a parachute, their Cirrus SRS. The
aircraft will be produced in conjunction with Fk Lightplanes based in
Speyer, Germany, with production facilities in Poland. The aircraft is a
low-wing two-place side-by-side aircraft powered by a a 100 HP Rotax 912S
engine. First deliveries are expected in approximately one year.

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as the FK-14
model. Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus, said "We're going to Cirrus-ize
the airplane a bit to create what we believe is the best aircraft for the
LSA market." He went on to say, "We believe it's important for every
aircraft manufacturer to grow the market to bring more people into flying
and that's why we decided to bring an LSA into our family of aircraft." For
more information, visitwww.cirrusdesign.comorwww.fk-lightplanes.com

wow this lsa thing is really starting to take off

when I first heard it announced back in '03 or something (whenever it
was), thought it'd go the way of the recreational certificate

buttman wrote:
On Jul 23, 2:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:
Cirrus Design is entering the LSA market. At 9:30 this morning they
unveiled, appropriately hidden beneath a parachute, their Cirrus SRS. The
aircraft will be produced in conjunction with Fk Lightplanes based in
Speyer, Germany, with production facilities in Poland. The aircraft is a
low-wing two-place side-by-side aircraft powered by a a 100 HP Rotax 912S
engine. First deliveries are expected in approximately one year.

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as the FK-14
model. Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus, said "We're going to Cirrus-ize
the airplane a bit to create what we believe is the best aircraft for the
LSA market." He went on to say, "We believe it's important for every
aircraft manufacturer to grow the market to bring more people into flying
and that's why we decided to bring an LSA into our family of aircraft." For
more information, visitwww.cirrusdesign.comorwww.fk-lightplanes.com

wow this lsa thing is really starting to take off

when I first heard it announced back in '03 or something (whenever it
was), thought it'd go the way of the recreational certificate

The sport pilot is what the recreational should have been in the
first place; the only thing going for the recreational is the slightly
reduced training cost.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

On Jul 23, 5:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as the FK-14
model.


Neat looking airplane. I read they have to slow it down from 130kt to
120kt to conform with LSA rules. If that's just a matter of re-
pitching the prop (ground adjustable?) it shouldn't be too hard to get
that 10kt back. Or am I oversimplifying here?

Kingfish wrote:
On Jul 23, 5:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as
the FK-14 model.


Neat looking airplane. I read they have to slow it down from 130kt to
120kt to conform with LSA rules. If that's just a matter of re-
pitching the prop (ground adjustable?) it shouldn't be too hard to get
that 10kt back. Or am I oversimplifying here?

Probably not.

I saw the plane today at the Cirrus display (somehow missed it
yesterday). I can sum up my impression of it in one word: WOW! I'd say
it is the best looking Light Sport aircraft I have seen, and
definitely fits in with Cirrus' image and product line. Just my .02
worth.

David Johnson

On Jul 25, 12:09 am, Dave wrote:
I saw the plane today at the Cirrus display (somehow missed it
yesterday). I can sum up my impression of it in one word: WOW! I'd say
it is the best looking Light Sport aircraft I have seen, and
definitely fits in with Cirrus' image and product line. Just my .02
worth.

David Johnson

The best way to bring in the new pilots, etc., is to have an LSA,
certified and ready to go, for $45K out the door... At that price
break there will be a fresh market...

denny

On Jul 23, 4:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:
Cirrus Design is entering the LSA market. At 9:30 this morning they
unveiled, appropriately hidden beneath a parachute, their Cirrus SRS. The
aircraft will be produced in conjunction with Fk Lightplanes based in
Speyer, Germany, with production facilities in Poland. The aircraft is a
low-wing two-place side-by-side aircraft powered by a a 100 HP Rotax 912S
engine. First deliveries are expected in approximately one year.

Those familiar with Fk Lightplanes airplanes with recognize it as the FK-14
model. Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus, said "We're going to Cirrus-ize
the airplane a bit to create what we believe is the best aircraft for the
LSA market." He went on to say, "We believe it's important for every
aircraft manufacturer to grow the market to bring more people into flying
and that's why we decided to bring an LSA into our family of aircraft." For
more information, visitwww.cirrusdesign.comorwww.fk-lightplanes.com

Nice plane. And the empty weight of the FK-14 is 626 pounds, which
means it has a useful load under LSA rules of 694 pounds! And that
includes a steel safety cage around the passenger compartment and a
ballistic chute. It is pretty clear that composite construction is
the way to go if you want to get a lighter aircraft.

Denny wrote:
The best way to bring in the new pilots, etc., is to have an LSA,
certified and ready to go, for $45K out the door... At that price
break there will be a fresh market...

Technically, LSA can include the heavier powered parachutes and you can
already buy them "ready-to-fly" for under US$45k:
http://www.steelbreeze.ca/pricing_CDN.htm

But no doubt you mean traditional fixed-wing aircraft - which gets tougher.
Here are a couple of the lowest cost ready-to-fly models I know of at US
$65k:
http://www.skykits.com/KitsandpricingUS.060107.htm
(Main web page http://www.skykits.com/ )

Here's one at $70k:
http://www.usjabiru.com/jabiru_calypso.htm

There are a bunch of kits that allegedly have sub-1000 hour build times
that can be had for under $45k. (The Savannah kit for example can be had
for under $45k and allegedly built on the order of about 300 to 400 hours.)

Jim Logajan wrote:
Denny wrote:
The best way to bring in the new pilots, etc., is to have an LSA,
certified and ready to go, for $45K out the door... At that price
break there will be a fresh market...

Technically, LSA can include the heavier powered parachutes and you
can already buy them "ready-to-fly" for under US$45k:
http://www.steelbreeze.ca/pricing_CDN.htm

But no doubt you mean traditional fixed-wing aircraft - which gets
tougher. Here are a couple of the lowest cost ready-to-fly models I
know of at US $65k:
http://www.skykits.com/KitsandpricingUS.060107.htm
(Main web page http://www.skykits.com/ )


I does reduce the cost when you steal the design.