Latest news with #CirrusAircraft
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Cirrus Aircraft's Safety Focus Has Been Good For Business
The new Cirrus SR G7+, which features the company's Safe Return Emergency Autoland technology Last week Cirrus Aircraft announced the introduction of a new addition to its SR series of single-engine piston aircraft, the G7+, which will feature the company's Safe Return Emergency Autoland technology as standard equipment. The safety aspect of the announcement is in keeping with the company's philosophy based on a long-ago quote from one of its two co-founders, Alan Klapmeier: 'The penalty for a mistake or bad luck should not be death.' Cirrus was founded in 1984 by Alan and his brother Dale Klapmeier. Headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, it manufactures personal aircraft that include the SR series of propellor planes and its Vision Jet, as well as the TRAC SR20 series of specialty training airplanes. The addition of Safe Return to its piston aircraft, after originally offering the feature only on its Vision Jet, is another in a series of safety innovations from Cirrus. The most famous one, of course, is its Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, a standard feature on all its aircraft. The company's focus on safety appears to be delivering strong business results. Publicly traded Cirrus is the now world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer by units delivered for general aviation, according to their figures compiled from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and corporate annual reports. It has delivered over 10,000 of its SR Series, including over 1,200 in just the last two years. The SR Series comprises nearly 50% unit market share and over 60% revenue market share. Last year was a record-setting one for its Vision Jet deliveries, which totaled 101 aircraft. The Safe Return Emergency Autoland feature requires the push of just a single prominent button to ... More activate it. 'As a broker who sells preowned Cirrus aircraft, I can confidently say safety is the number one reason clients seek out the brand,' said Mindy Lindheim, aircraft sales broker for Lone Mountain Aircraft and frequent contributor at Twin and Turbine Magazine, via email. 'The parachute system, the avionics, and the training ecosystem all work together to make Cirrus stand out and that reputation drives purchasing decisions every day.' The company projects that by 2027, there will be more SR Series G7+ with Safe Return delivered than any other aircraft equipped with Garmin Autoland (the technology upon which the Safe Return system is built) combined. 'It is a phenomenal technology on any airplane, but I think it's going to be significantly impactful for this level of airplane,' Ivy McIver, executive director, SR product line at Cirrus, told me in an interview. 'We've brought this technology that was once reserved for bigger, more expensive airframes, and brought it down to a more attainable, more approachable airframe.' Lindheim agreed. 'Having Garmin Aviation's Autoland technology in a piston aircraft is a huge leap forward, not just for Cirrus, but for general aviation as a whole,' she said. 'It signals a future where advanced safety tools aren't just for jets or high-performance turboprops.' The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (here shown activated on a Vision Jet). As of the end of 2024, ... More there had been 107 successful CAPS deployments, which saved 220 lives. Safe Return is a push-button technology that autonomously flies the airplane to the nearest suitable airport in the event of pilot difficulties or incapacitation. 'It's actually a very impressive marriage of digital technology, mechanical technology, and, dare I say, compassion,' explained McIver. 'I have had the pleasure of flying an aircraft equipped with Safe Return… over 70 times. I have observed its approach to landing over 40 times at 16 different airports, and the more times that I activate it, the more and more confident I get in the system, and hands down, absolutely feel confident putting my life and the lives of my passengers in Safe Return's hands.' It's interesting to note that while Garmin introduced its Autoland technology in 2019, so far there have been no emergency activations. But McIver thinks its opportunity to save lives will come with greater numbers of planes equipped with it. 'In the first year and a half, roughly, of production, there will be more SR Series equipped with Safe Return emergency autoland than any other airframe combined,' she said. 'So I think that is where we will see the impact of a Safe Return activation. Is that low-time pilot or a pilot who gets task-saturated or overwhelmed or into a circumstance that they get disoriented? And this button gives them permission to ask for help and provide help for themselves. And so I think that the first activation that we will see of an Autoland is in the SR Series.' 'Cirrus has always understood that they're not just selling airplanes, but rather, they're selling peace of mind,' Lindheim added. 'Every new safety feature they introduce is another reason why Cirrus owners stay loyal to the brand.'
CNN
06-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Is this the future of flying? An FAA-certified airplane that can land on its own
Hagerstown, Maryland CNN — While passenger anxieties may be experiencing an uptick, one new design aboard a small aircraft is attempting to change the future of flying when it comes to safety. And it comes with just the push of one button. Aircraft manufacturer Cirrus is launching the first Federal Aviation Administration-approved autonomous safety system in a single-engine piston airplane. It's called, 'Safe Return,' and it is a shiny red button in the plane maker's SR Series G7+. Cirrus first certified Safe Return in its larger and more expensive Vision Jet in August 2020. CNN got a first-hand look at the Cirrus technology and how the planes are able to land themselves. How can a plane land on its own? The way it works is simple. Takeoff is the same – passengers feel the roar of the engine as the plane is maneuvered by the pilot to the runway swiftly and cautiously. In the air, it has features just like a regular plane. But, say there was a problem with the pilot. Now, Safe Return can step in. It comes in the form of a red button that sits overhead, closest to the passengers in the back. One press of the button, and the plane will route itself to the closest and most available runway. It entirely takes control of the airplane. 'The first thing it does is it makes a decision,' said Ben Kowalski, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cirrus Aircraft, in an interview with CNN. 'There's an algorithm that decides: 'Where should we go? What it's doing is it's making a choice, almost just like a pilot would.' There's a 10-second grace window, should the emergency button be hit on accident, when the pilot is able to disconnect it. The aircraft's integrated flight decks have everything it needs to make the landing: it'll interpret the fuel state, weather, wind and more. Air traffic controllers will also be alerted that the aircraft is having an emergency, and passengers are also able to communicate with controllers, should they need to. Ivy McIver is the executive director of the SR Series product line at Cirrus Aircraft. She also is a pilot and flew the Cirrus plane demonstrated for CNN. 'The first time I did (an activation of Safe Return), it was sort of one of those things where on one side it was hard to give up control, but on the other side I felt so confident in the system because I had been part of the certification process and part of the flight testing that it really was just to watch the magic of engineering at work,' McIver said. It all comes together when the plane touches down, right in the center of the runway, and comes to a stop with no one touching the controls. Where might a Cirrus plane be used? Cirrus, founded in 1984, calls itself a leader in 'personal aviation.' 'We believe aviation makes the world better,' Kowalski said. 'We're biased, rightfully so, because we build airplanes, but we see the people that are buying and using our airplanes…, the vast majority put them into service for their business, to grow their business.' While some may utilize a Cirrus plane for their own personal use, mostly, the company's customers are business owners that can make use of the plane to lessen costs elsewhere. They aren't the typical 'aviation geek' type. 'The vast majority of people who are buying Cirruses in our space, they're not professional pilots,' he said. 'They're flying a couple times a week, maybe, so we're constantly creating a flight deck and a user interface, things that make it easier and safer and simpler to fly.' The company created its own Cirrus Airframe Parachute System – the first FAA-certified whole-airframe parachute safety system included as standard equipment on its planes. It allows the entire aircraft to float to the ground in case of emergency. The future for Cirrus is simple: introduce more people to the world of aviation and make them feel comfortable with it. 'What we've actually done is take an airframe powered by a power plant that's not digitally controlled or not controlled by a computer, an airframe that is kind of the entry point of aviation,' McIver explained. 'People are learning how to fly in this plane, and we are producing over 600 of these a year.' 600 a year that will now have a shiny red button onboard. '(Aviation) makes people more productive and are able to do more,' Kowalski said. 'I think we'll see this convergence in the future of as air as technologies for the airplanes keep improving, just like this.' CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
CNN
06-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Is this the future of flying? An FAA-certified airplane that can land on its own
Hagerstown, Maryland CNN — While passenger anxieties may be experiencing an uptick, one new design aboard a small aircraft is attempting to change the future of flying when it comes to safety. And it comes with just the push of one button. Aircraft manufacturer Cirrus is launching the first Federal Aviation Administration-approved autonomous safety system in a single-engine piston airplane. It's called, 'Safe Return,' and it is a shiny red button in the plane maker's SR Series G7+. Cirrus first certified Safe Return in its larger and more expensive Vision Jet in August 2020. CNN got a first-hand look at the Cirrus technology and how the planes are able to land themselves. How can a plane land on its own? The way it works is simple. Takeoff is the same – passengers feel the roar of the engine as the plane is maneuvered by the pilot to the runway swiftly and cautiously. In the air, it has features just like a regular plane. But, say there was a problem with the pilot. Now, Safe Return can step in. It comes in the form of a red button that sits overhead, closest to the passengers in the back. One press of the button, and the plane will route itself to the closest and most available runway. It entirely takes control of the airplane. 'The first thing it does is it makes a decision,' said Ben Kowalski, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cirrus Aircraft, in an interview with CNN. 'There's an algorithm that decides: 'Where should we go? What it's doing is it's making a choice, almost just like a pilot would.' There's a 10-second grace window, should the emergency button be hit on accident, when the pilot is able to disconnect it. The aircraft's integrated flight decks have everything it needs to make the landing: it'll interpret the fuel state, weather, wind and more. Air traffic controllers will also be alerted that the aircraft is having an emergency, and passengers are also able to communicate with controllers, should they need to. Ivy McIver is the executive director of the SR Series product line at Cirrus Aircraft. She also is a pilot and flew the Cirrus plane demonstrated for CNN. 'The first time I did (an activation of Safe Return), it was sort of one of those things where on one side it was hard to give up control, but on the other side I felt so confident in the system because I had been part of the certification process and part of the flight testing that it really was just to watch the magic of engineering at work,' McIver said. It all comes together when the plane touches down, right in the center of the runway, and comes to a stop with no one touching the controls. Where might a Cirrus plane be used? Cirrus, founded in 1984, calls itself a leader in 'personal aviation.' 'We believe aviation makes the world better,' Kowalski said. 'We're biased, rightfully so, because we build airplanes, but we see the people that are buying and using our airplanes…, the vast majority put them into service for their business, to grow their business.' While some may utilize a Cirrus plane for their own personal use, mostly, the company's customers are business owners that can make use of the plane to lessen costs elsewhere. They aren't the typical 'aviation geek' type. 'The vast majority of people who are buying Cirruses in our space, they're not professional pilots,' he said. 'They're flying a couple times a week, maybe, so we're constantly creating a flight deck and a user interface, things that make it easier and safer and simpler to fly.' The company created its own Cirrus Airframe Parachute System – the first FAA-certified whole-airframe parachute safety system included as standard equipment on its planes. It allows the entire aircraft to float to the ground in case of emergency. The future for Cirrus is simple: introduce more people to the world of aviation and make them feel comfortable with it. 'What we've actually done is take an airframe powered by a power plant that's not digitally controlled or not controlled by a computer, an airframe that is kind of the entry point of aviation,' McIver explained. 'People are learning how to fly in this plane, and we are producing over 600 of these a year.' 600 a year that will now have a shiny red button onboard. '(Aviation) makes people more productive and are able to do more,' Kowalski said. 'I think we'll see this convergence in the future of as air as technologies for the airplanes keep improving, just like this.' CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
CNET
06-05-2025
- CNET
Cirrus G7 Plus Test Flight: I Landed a Plane With One Finger
Table of Contents Cirrus G7 Plus Test Flight: I Landed a Plane With One Finger Cirrus Aircraft has introduced Safe Return, a self-landing system that takes control and lands the plane if the pilot becomes incapacitated. CNET got an early hands-on look. Now Playing: Aviation Breakthrough: A Consumer Plane That Lands Itself 06:45 The system, which is part of the new SR22 G7 Plus aircraft, is enabled with the press of a button. It lets the plane talk to air traffic control, find the nearest safe airport, land itself and shut down -- all on its own. While Safe Return has been part of the Vision Jet lineup since 2019, Cirrus says it had to completely rework it for the SR22 G7 Plus aircraft. In this version, the system doesn't just fly the plane but completely controls the throttle. I got to see this system in action; watching the throttle lever move by itself felt like something straight out of Knight Rider, like KITT taking over the wheel. Cirrus Cirrus says the G7 Plus continues the company's legacy for safety, which includes its whole-airframe parachute system, standard across all models, that has saved more than 270 lives. On the tech front, the G7 Plus brings features such as: Electronic Stability Protection Emergency Descent Mode Over-the-air navigation updates Integrated touchscreen flight deck Notifying emergency responders Voice and visual emergency cues for passengers Cirrus Why this matters The SR is a well-sized, beginner-friendly aircraft, ideal for learning to fly. Like any new skill, learning to fly comes with ups and downs, but with the G7 Plus, those "lows" are far less likely to end in disaster. One standout feature is its ability to detect abnormal flight patterns and autonomously take control to land the plane, even without manual activation of the Safe Return button. This is especially valuable when a pilot is flying solo and becomes incapacitated. During our flight, we used a demo version of the software that successfully landed the plane but didn't notify emergency responders or communicate with air traffic control. We departed from Westchester County Airport and touched down at Stewart International Airport. Cirrus With nearly 20,000 public and private airports across the US, getting around in an SR22 could be safer and faster than driving. The Cirrus SR22 G7 Plus -- the same model we flew -- is priced at $1,236,500. It is equipped with oxygen, Global Connect, air conditioning and a composite propeller. In short, the Cirrus G7 Plus could be a glimpse into the future of personal aviation by making cutting-edge safety tech more accessible.
CNN
06-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Is this the future of flying? An FAA-certified airplane that can land on its own
Hagerstown, Maryland CNN — While passenger anxieties may be experiencing an uptick, one new design aboard a small aircraft is attempting to change the future of flying when it comes to safety. And it comes with just the push of one button. Aircraft manufacturer Cirrus is launching the first Federal Aviation Administration-approved autonomous safety system in a single-engine piston airplane. It's called, 'Safe Return,' and it is a shiny red button in the plane maker's SR Series G7+. Cirrus first certified Safe Return in its larger and more expensive Vision Jet in August 2020. CNN got a first-hand look at the Cirrus technology and how the planes are able to land themselves. How can a plane land on its own? The way it works is simple. Takeoff is the same – passengers feel the roar of the engine as the plane is maneuvered by the pilot to the runway swiftly and cautiously. In the air, it has features just like a regular plane. But, say there was a problem with the pilot. Now, Safe Return can step in. It comes in the form of a red button that sits overhead, closest to the passengers in the back. One press of the button, and the plane will route itself to the closest and most available runway. It entirely takes control of the airplane. 'The first thing it does is it makes a decision,' said Ben Kowalski, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Cirrus Aircraft, in an interview with CNN. 'There's an algorithm that decides: 'Where should we go? What it's doing is it's making a choice, almost just like a pilot would.' There's a 10-second grace window, should the emergency button be hit on accident, when the pilot is able to disconnect it. The aircraft's integrated flight decks have everything it needs to make the landing: it'll interpret the fuel state, weather, wind and more. Air traffic controllers will also be alerted that the aircraft is having an emergency, and passengers are also able to communicate with controllers, should they need to. Ivy McIver is the executive director of the SR Series product line at Cirrus Aircraft. She also is a pilot and flew the Cirrus plane demonstrated for CNN. 'The first time I did (an activation of Safe Return), it was sort of one of those things where on one side it was hard to give up control, but on the other side I felt so confident in the system because I had been part of the certification process and part of the flight testing that it really was just to watch the magic of engineering at work,' McIver said. It all comes together when the plane touches down, right in the center of the runway, and comes to a stop with no one touching the controls. Where might a Cirrus plane be used? Cirrus, founded in 1984, calls itself a leader in 'personal aviation.' 'We believe aviation makes the world better,' Kowalski said. 'We're biased, rightfully so, because we build airplanes, but we see the people that are buying and using our airplanes…, the vast majority put them into service for their business, to grow their business.' While some may utilize a Cirrus plane for their own personal use, mostly, the company's customers are business owners that can make use of the plane to lessen costs elsewhere. They aren't the typical 'aviation geek' type. 'The vast majority of people who are buying Cirruses in our space, they're not professional pilots,' he said. 'They're flying a couple times a week, maybe, so we're constantly creating a flight deck and a user interface, things that make it easier and safer and simpler to fly.' The company created its own Cirrus Airframe Parachute System – the first FAA-certified whole-airframe parachute safety system included as standard equipment on its planes. It allows the entire aircraft to float to the ground in case of emergency. The future for Cirrus is simple: introduce more people to the world of aviation and make them feel comfortable with it. 'What we've actually done is take an airframe powered by a power plant that's not digitally controlled or not controlled by a computer, an airframe that is kind of the entry point of aviation,' McIver explained. 'People are learning how to fly in this plane, and we are producing over 600 of these a year.' 600 a year that will now have a shiny red button onboard. '(Aviation) makes people more productive and are able to do more,' Kowalski said. 'I think we'll see this convergence in the future of as air as technologies for the airplanes keep improving, just like this.' CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
