With plans to certify its SF50 Vision by year-end, Cirrus Aircraft is seeking more space to assemble them at its Duluth, Minn. campus. It wants to build a new $10 million, 60,000 sq-ft SF50 completion center and paint shop at the Duluth International Airport, and late last week asked the state of Minnesota for $4 million in aid to partially pay for the project.
Last month, the company moved select research-and-development, machining and subassembly associated with the SF50 program into a new 40,000-sq-ft building off-airport in nearby Hermantown, Minn. Parts for the SF50 already are being fabricated at Cirrus’s composite plant in Grand Forks, N.D. Cirrus expects to start assembling customer Vision jets in the second half.
The conformal SF50 test fleet grew to three aircraft late last year. Through 2014 the company reported solid program progress, with the test fleet amassing 250 hours over the course of 177 flights.