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I flew on the cheapest private jet in the world and it's truly a game changerhttps://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/i-flew-on-the-cheapest-private-jet-in-the-world-and-its-truly-a-game-changer/slidelist/64236955.cms2018-05-19T18:53:11+05:30

I flew on the cheapest private jet in the world and it's truly a game changer

May 19, 2018, 18:53 IST

Here it is! The Cirrus Vision Jet waiting for us on the tarmac in Morristown.

Overall, it's 30.7 feet long and 10.9 feet tall with a 38.7-foot wingspan. Its main competitors include...

The Honda Jet and the Cessna Citation Mustang. However, both cost roughly twice as much.

The jet is assembled at the Cirrus factory in Duluth, Minnesota.

Immediately, you notice just how different it looks from everything else around it. And the fact that it's bigger than it looks in the photographs. Its most distinct features are the V-tail and...

...Its single Williams International FJ33-5A turbofan engine. The jet nozzle is angled slightly upward. As a result, it doesn't blast the rear fuselage with hot jet exhaust.

The engine mounted on a top of the fuselage,...

... Produces 1,800 pounds of thrust.

As with all Cirrus aircraft, it's designed with an emergency parachute system called CAPS. In the Vision Jet, the parachute is located in the nose.

Here's the parachute in action during a test flight.

The Vision Jet's fuselage is actually made of carbon fiber instead of aluminum. Carbon fiber is lighter and stronger than aluminum.

There's also a cargo compartment behind the passenger cabin.

See the naked carbon fiber walls?

Step inside and you'll find a surprisingly roomy cabin and absolutely massive windows.

There's room for five adults and two children. The cabin is 5.1 feet wide and 4.1 feet tall. You can't really stand up in there.

The leather lined interior was really pleasant and comfortable. The materials and build quality felt solid.

There are USB plugs and even an optional overhead entertainment system. And you get caught short, there's an available toilet option complete with privacy blinds.

Up front, the Vision Jet's cockpit is designed for single-pilot operation.

The intuitive glass cockpit is by Garmin.

There's a bank of three touchscreens where you can control everything from your communications with air traffic control and your navigation system to the radio station.

Above the pilot are a pair of emergency oxygen masks and the release lever for the parachute.

So..what's it like to fly? It's pretty incredible.

To fire up the engine, all you need to do is press the push-button starter like in a car.

Control inputs are done through a pair of sidesticks.

Once airborne, pilots have access to augmented reality synthetic vision technology. A useful tool especially in bad weather.

With Matt at the control, we hustled down the runway with impressive pace. According to Cirrus, the Vision Jet needs just 2,036 feet of runway to take up.

Once up in the air, we navigated our way through the busy air corridors around New York City. Matt had to explain to one air traffic controller that this Cirrus is actually a jet. Since we were forced to maintain an altitude of around 2,500 feet, the first few minutes of the flight were quite bumpy. However, things smoothed out once we climbed to 16,000 feet.

The Vision Jet was fairly noisy and as a result, we had to have headpieces in place to communicate. Something we didn't need in the HondaJet.

Due to the greenhouse-like design of the windshield, the two seats up front tend to be about degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the rest of the cabin.

Looking out towards the wing and you'll see the rubber deicing boots.

According to Cirrus, the Vision Jet can cruise at 345 mph with a maximum operating altitude of 28,000 feet.

Flying 345 mph and 28,000 feet of altitude, the jet has a range of 1,150 mph. Drop the speed down to 276 mph and the range increases to 1,380 miles. That means LA to Kansas City or Dallas to New York.

So far, the Vision Jet has been a hot seller for Cirrus with roughly 600 aircraft sold to date. This gives that backlog that will take several years for the company to work through. I guess good things come to those who wait.

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