Jay Leno Flies Cirrus G3 Vision Jet Over California With Cirrus's Matt Bergwall

Jay Leno flew a Cirrus G3 Vision Jet over Southern California, sitting in the left seat with Matt Bergwall of Cirrus beside him. Bergwall guided him through takeoff, with rotation at about 60 knots. Leno compared the feel of the aircraft to one of his turbine motorcycles.

The aircraft is powered by a single Williams International FJ33 turbofan mounted atop the fuselage and weighs about 6,000 pounds with a carbon-fiber airframe. The two leveled off at 10,000 feet above a cloud layer, and Leno engaged the autopilot to hold 180 knots before it was raised to a steady 240 knots.

Cirrus markets the G3 as a personal jet that one pilot can fly after completing a type-rating course. Maximum cruise speed is about 317 knots true at 31,000 feet, with fuel burn of roughly 60 gallons of Jet-A per hour. Maximum range with a light load is around 1,275 nautical miles, and the aircraft used by the film crew flew from Tennessee to California, more than 2,000 miles, in under seven hours.

The updated cabin seats six adults and a child, with Alcantara-wrapped hardshell seats, improved tray tables and device mounts, and better exterior lighting. Two standard systems distinguish the G3. The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System lowers the aircraft to the ground in the event of engine failure or structural damage, and has returned over 300 passengers to the ground across the Cirrus fleet after 151 deployments. The Safe Return emergency landing system is activated by a red button on the cabin ceiling if a pilot is incapacitated; it tells air traffic control where the aircraft is heading, then flies the approach, lands, brakes and shuts down the engine automatically. A fully equipped G3 costs roughly $3.6 million.

The G3 sits in the owner-flown end of the light jet market, where the buyer is also the pilot. In that segment the purchase argument rests less on cabin volume or range than on how manageable the aircraft feels to fly and how much of the safety case is built into the airframe. A demonstration flown by a well-known enthusiast rather than a professional test pilot speaks directly to that buyer.

The two standard safety systems described here, the airframe parachute and the automated emergency landing function, are the features that separate this aircraft from conventional turbine singles and twins. For an owner-pilot weighing a step up from piston aircraft, they shift part of the risk calculation from pilot proficiency to aircraft design, which is how the product is positioned against larger and costlier jets.

The price and performance figures given place the G3 well below the cost of a typical cabin-class light jet while delivering transcontinental reach in a single day's flying. Buyers comparing it with used light jets will weigh that acquisition cost against the single-engine configuration and the type-rating course required before flying it.