Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet N1808C Flies 136 nm From Middleton to Eau Claire in 32 Minutes
Why It MattersFrequent short shuttles between two Wisconsin airports show how very light jets are used for routine intercity trips by owners tied to a corporate base, a steady niche for the segment.
Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet G2+ N1808C, registered personally to Lawrence Menard of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, flew from Middleton Municipal Morey Field to Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire. It departed at 01:18 UTC and landed at 01:50 UTC, a 32-minute flight covering a great-circle distance of 136 nautical miles (156 miles). The aircraft averaged 253 knots ground speed, reached a top speed of 287 knots and a maximum altitude of 15,775 feet.
The SF50 Vision Jet G2+ is a single-engine very light jet that seats four passengers, with a range of 1,098 nautical miles and a service ceiling of 31,000 feet. At a fuel burn of 70 gallons per hour, the flight used about 38 gallons of jet fuel, producing an estimated 361 kilograms of CO2, comparable to driving a car 895 miles.
Chippewa Valley Regional Airport is the aircraft's home base. Between August 18 and October 31, N1808C landed at Eau Claire 15 times, at Middleton 15 times and at Chippewa Falls twice. Its last Eau Claire landing before this flight was on October 28, and it had been on the ground about 35 hours after a tracked landing at Middleton on October 31. Recent flights by the same owner include a 36-minute Eau Claire–Middleton flight on October 31 covering 136 nautical miles and a 33-minute Middleton–Eau Claire flight on October 28 covering 134 nautical miles.
In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft made 12 flights totaling 7.7 hours in the air and about 5,174 kilograms of CO2, using 7 airports in one country. The longest leg in that period was Middleton to Hamilton on October 17, covering 323 nautical miles. Lawrence Menard is a member of the family behind Menards, the privately held Midwest home-improvement chain founded by John Menard Jr. and headquartered in Eau Claire, where the Menard Inc. corporate fleet is also based. Middleton hosts the company's regional distribution center, and the flight continues a pattern of regular shuttles between Middleton and Eau Claire.
