Gallery: Cirrus Aircraft's Vision Center On Path For Growth

The Cirrus Vision Center, located at the foot of the Smoky Mountains in Knoxville, Tennessee, is Cirrus Aircraft’s flagship location for pilot training, service, support, sales, marketing, aircraft delivery and other activities for the Cirrus SR series of aircraft and SF50 single-engine personal jet.  The company plans to expand its presence here. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus announced an improved jet, the Vision Jet G2, with upgrades to the flightdeck and cabin along with improved range and higher cruise speeds in January 2019. The jets are flown from Duluth, Minnesota, where they are assembled, to Knoxville, for customer delivery. Source: Cirrus

Cirrus customers select the paint and interior of their new aircraft, down to the color of the rudder pedals, at Cirrus Aircraft's Customer Experience Center. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus Aircraft delivers the SR20, SR22, SR22T and the Vision Jet to customers at its Vision Center in Knoxville. Here, a Vision Gen 2 is ready for delivery. Credit: Molly McMillin

For an aircraft delivery, Cirrus customers are driven into a darkened delivery hangar, where once inside, they are met with a red carpet, disco lighting and their favorite music blaring to mark the special occasion. Credit: Cirrus Aircraft

The Vision Center includes a service center for annuals, major inspections and other maintenance. New aircraft to be delivered receive any needed touch-ups after they are flown from Duluth, where they are built. Credit: Molly McMillin

The Vision Jet G2 includes Garmin’s Safe Return emergency autoland system. Should the pilot become incapacitated, passengers push the bright red button overhead and the aircraft automatically selects the nearest suitable airport, flies to the runway and lands. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus pilots come for training in Knoxville, Cirrus Aircraft's only factory training center for Cirrus aircraft and the only training center for the Vision jet. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus’ training center includes simulators for pilot training on the Vision Jet, including this Level D full-motion simulator manufactured by CAE. Cirrus offers pilots transition training, recurrent training and training for a full type rating in the Vision jet. About 70% of pilots coming through the program have not before earned a type rating of any kind. Credit: Molly McMillin

After pilots complete their type ratings, they sign the large white boards near the flight simulator to note the accomplishment. Credit: Molly McMillin

Patrick Sniffen, Cirrus director of marketing, shows a visitor where pilots train on the Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin. The avionics suite includes oversized flight displays with situational awareness, real-time weather, automatic flight control system, automatic pressurization scheduling, automated system alerts and other features. Credit: Molly McMillin

The Cirrus Vision Center’s Cirrus store is a popular stop. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus creates its own training curricula and operates a media studio, with a green screen, to produce in-house videos for training, customer gatherings, sales and other purposes. Credit: Molly McMillin

Cirrus has plans to build a new main campus here at the site of its current Vision Center in Knoxville. A timeframe has not been established. Credit: Molly McMillin