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As a follow-up to Dianne White’s re- view of the first-generation Vision Jet (“The Cirrus Vision Jet,” Twin & Turbine, February 2018), we arranged a visit to Knoxville to experience the upgrades specific to the G2. Leading up to the trip, I corresponded with Matt Bergwall, di- rector of the Vision Jet product line. We mapped out two days chockfull of the Cirrus experience including a facility tour, training sessions, in-depth discus- sions and, of course, an extensive f light.
Preflight
Matt and I met in Knoxville at the McGhee Tyson Airport (KTYS), which is where Cirrus recently relocated and expanded their customer-facing facili- ties with an aircraft delivery center, service center and Vision Jet training center (a sensible location as it is within a two flight-hour range of over 1,000 SR aircraft owners). To start things off, we spent two hours giving the Vision Jet a thorough pre-f light as well as discussing the core differences between the G1 and G2 versions.
The Vision Jet exhibits a tall presence and large cabin for its weight class, with a cabin width of 61 inches at its widest section, then tapering to 44 inches aft. But despite its size, the jet was designed to fit in hangars that typically fit the Cirrus SR series – an intentional decision since existing Cirrus owners constitute the majority of the Vision Jet position holders and owners.
Overall, the differences during the exterior portion of the preflight are mini- mal. Cirrus removed the small vortex generators (Boundary Layer Enhancers) and aileron fence from the wing and lengthened the T-strip on the aft edge of the aileron. If conducting a preflight at night, underwing LED lighting adds a nice ambiance. The extended baggage area is now standard with the G2 provid- ing a total of 27.4 cubic feet of storage with a capacity of 300 pounds. The engine pref light is simple with ease of access to the engine oil level sight glass. The pilot steps up on the left wing to remove or install the engine inlet cover.
The cabin door opens to a wide 2 feet by 4 feet opening with lighted steps. Cir- rus has made it easy to move the seats with seat adjustment levers both fore and aft. Any cabin seat can be easily moved or removed without an A&P signing off the change. Simply note the presence or absence for each one when doing weight and balance calculations. With all seats installed, our airplane had a full fuel (296 gallons/2,001 pounds) payload of 394 pounds. Remove the aft child seats and that number increases to 431 pounds.
With the rear seats included, the jet offers a total capacity of five adults and two children. Though the two 90-pound rated child seats are an option, they are almost always selected by buyers. It is obvious Cirrus kept families in mind with their inclusion of latch support for child seats. The seats also now come with bot- tom cushion storage areas and kangaroo pouches capable of storing small items such as phones.
The G2 has a center console option with tables that fits between the mid- dle row seats. In each seating position, both crew and passengers have con- venient storage nooks with intercom, music and USB power ports. The cabin features an optional overhead 22-inch Inflight Entertainment (IFE) display with an HDMI video port on the cabin sidewall. This option could be great for a moving map or entertainment for the passengers.
Up front, the G2 incorporates Mid Continent Instruments and Avion- ics’ True Blue lithium-ion emergency and main batteries, which offer less weight, integrated heaters and extended service intervals. The heaters virtually eliminate low temperature start limitations. During the cockpit preflight, the operation of the master switches initiates a four-minute activation of the battery heaters, lower- ing the low temperature battery-only start limitation from 0C to - 40C. Having frequently dealt with cold weather starts with jets in the mountains, I especially appreciate this feature. Between the new batteries and other improvements, the useful load has increased by 50 pounds compared to the G1 Vision Jet (and this is despite adding structures to increase the pressurization differential to 7.1 PSI).
Perhaps one of the most notice- able changes in the cockpit is the
16 • TWIN & TURBINE / April 2019
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