OK, I’ll bite, given that there is a lot of misinformation here, and I am an SF50 owner.

Purchase Price: About $3.2M with every option. Less than $3,000,000 if you get standard paint and interior, and all other options. Rumored wait time is about 2 years, but I don’t have that info firsthand.

Operating Costs: Cirrus has a program called Jetstream that pays for all maintenance, including reserves for all future overhaul items. The annual cost is $85,000+/- for 150 hours per year. This includes all training, type rating checkrides, all nav databases and Jepp Charts, Sirius wx and music, a limited but reasonable amount of satphone and Gogo wifi time/data, all typical wear items such as tires and brakes, all ADs and SBs. An owner is responsible for insurance, hangar, and fuel/oil costs. The Jetstream hourly rate decreases slightly if you buy more time, and increases slightly as planes get older. All SF50’s are on Jetstream, so there is no known cost if a buyer elected not to get on the Jetstream program.

Performance: 315 KTAS at ISA, FL310, burning about 62 gallons. The plane is good for about 950 nm at max cruise, with adequate reserves. Full fuel payload with all 7 seats installed is about 400 lbs. Most people fly with 4 seats, raising the max fuel payload to about 450-470 lbs. If you only keep 2 seats, you are in the low 500’s for payload. The plane holds 296 useable gallons. The newest G2+ models have enhanced takeoff performance, particularly in hot/high conditions.

The Good:

Very comfortable cabin
Great avionics and features such as wifi, satphone, built in TV, etc.
Exceptional cockpit visibility
Good support from Cirrus
Quiet …. Some passengers use no headsets. I use a Bose Proflight headset.
Flexible cabin … seats swap in/out in seconds. We fly with 2 full size mtn bikes, only removing the front wheels. (Of the bikes, not the plane!)
Simple systems, and very easy to fly, with such things as autothrottle and a robust FMS.
Autoland and the chute are nice if you ever need them. Especially nice for passenger confidence.
Fits in many conventional T hangars.
Faster and more comfortable than the M600, which has a comparable new cost.

The Bad:
Load and range limited as compared to the M600, which is comparable in acquisition cost.
No anti skid brakes or reverse, so you need to be conservative with contaminated runways
Some growing pains with systems and parts availability
(2) of the seats are limited to 90 lbs, so its a 5 adult plane.
Limited to Cirrus training facilities, which are exceptional, but busy.

No plane is perfect, but if you have a 500 - 900 nm mission, and don’t need to take a big load, it is probably the most compelling option in the new plane market.

Thanks for posting here!
Nice to get real world numbers!
You’ve triggered some memories from my visit w them at Osh and when asking about it as 4 person plane they were not optimistic.

Obviously I was off on my numbers although I got the $80k part right!!

Mark how do u like the Cirrus recurrent training and type checkride programs?

Pretty accommodating?
I assume most customers want to get in and get out.

I have only done the initial, which was a 2 week program, ending with the checkride. The initial is geared towards learning the systems, and becoming proficient enough to pass the checkride. The facilities, sims, and hospitality are incredibly good. They have a great staff, and they treat you like gold. The training is also good, although tedious in some respects.

Once you complete the checkride, absent a previous type rating, you are required to complete at least 25 hours of mentor time before your type rating becomes unrestricted.

I return for my 3 day recurrent in March. Scheduling was easy, but you need to schedule well in advance. Cirrus has staff to remind you!

Same here, I was told 2.2-2.5 would get one moved, but it could have been old info, or a bait and switch, I was buying around q3/q4 2020, a lot has happened since then

Thanks for the info Mark! It’s cool to see some real world information/data on the SF50! Sounds like a great ride!

$567/hour.

150 hours of fuel is about $67K.

Hangar might be $14K.

Insurance might be $25K.

So about $1300/hour, $4.33/nm average.

This is for a plane with all new parts. These programs increase in price as the airplanes age, and due to the unilateral ability to increase prices on a captive market. There really are no alternatives to SF50 owners but to pay whatever Cirrus wants to charge. They can print money. Expect to see these programs prices rise significantly faster than inflation.

Mike C.

This is for a plane with all new parts. These programs increase in price as the airplanes age, and due to the unilateral ability to increase prices on a captive market. There really are no alternatives to SF50 owners but to pay whatever Cirrus wants to charge. They can print money. Expect to see these programs prices rise significantly faster than inflation.

You don't get a realistic choice with Williams, you have to be on the program or you have to consider the engine disposable. Williams charges more for off program HSI and OH than the payments would have been. Williams is the only choice for major engine work which is required every 2000 hours off programs. Williams doesn't publish the data necessary to have an independent shop perform the work.

Sounds like you don't get a choice with Cirrus, either, and I wonder if you end up like Williams, no viable option outside of the programs. Even if the inspection program is published, Cirrus controls the parts.

The purchase price is really the start of a subscription where the provider can set the prices at will. Many markets are moving to "______ as a service" model where the purchase price is really not the major revenue stream.


Jets require a lot more of this than turboprops. This is an often ignored difference. Things on a jet are just tracked to a much finer level.

That being said, the maintenance tracking providers do this job fairly well and it isn't a big deal even on my 30 year old 10,000 hour Citation. It would be kind of trivial on a new airplane like an SF50, so this isn't really that big a value.


TAP is not quite $200/hour, say $185/hour would be my estimate based on what others pay for FJ44. The rest is Cirrus services.

I suspect I'll be able to fly my Citation V for the roughly the same price per mile as the SF50. My current estimate is about $1500/hour, of which $1000 is fuel. That gets me 420+ knots, flying in the 40s, and 9 seats I can actually use.

I can't financially afford an SF50. Too costly to buy, too expensive per mile, too little capability.

Mike C.

OK, I’ll bite, given that there is a lot of misinformation here, and I am an SF50 owner.

Purchase Price: About $3.2M with every option. Less than $3,000,000 if you get standard paint and interior, and all other options. Rumored wait time is about 2 years, but I don’t have that info firsthand.

Operating Costs: Cirrus has a program called Jetstream that pays for all maintenance, including reserves for all future overhaul items. The annual cost is $85,000+/- for 150 hours per year. This includes all training, type rating checkrides, all nav databases and Jepp Charts, Sirius wx and music, a limited but reasonable amount of satphone and Gogo wifi time/data, all typical wear items such as tires and brakes, all ADs and SBs. An owner is responsible for insurance, hangar, and fuel/oil costs. The Jetstream hourly rate decreases slightly if you buy more time, and increases slightly as planes get older. All SF50’s are on Jetstream, so there is no known cost if a buyer elected not to get on the Jetstream program.

Performance: 315 KTAS at ISA, FL310, burning about 62 gallons. The plane is good for about 950 nm at max cruise, with adequate reserves. Full fuel payload with all 7 seats installed is about 400 lbs. Most people fly with 4 seats, raising the max fuel payload to about 450-470 lbs. If you only keep 2 seats, you are in the low 500’s for payload. The plane holds 296 useable gallons. The newest G2+ models have enhanced takeoff performance, particularly in hot/high conditions.

The Good:

Very comfortable cabin
Great avionics and features such as wifi, satphone, built in TV, etc.
Exceptional cockpit visibility
Good support from Cirrus
Quiet …. Some passengers use no headsets. I use a Bose Proflight headset.
Flexible cabin … seats swap in/out in seconds. We fly with 2 full size mtn bikes, only removing the front wheels. (Of the bikes, not the plane!)
Simple systems, and very easy to fly, with such things as autothrottle and a robust FMS.
Autoland and the chute are nice if you ever need them. Especially nice for passenger confidence.
Fits in many conventional T hangars.
Faster and more comfortable than the M600, which has a comparable new cost.

The Bad:
Load and range limited as compared to the M600, which is comparable in acquisition cost.
No anti skid brakes or reverse, so you need to be conservative with contaminated runways
Some growing pains with systems and parts availability
(2) of the seats are limited to 90 lbs, so its a 5 adult plane.
Limited to Cirrus training facilities, which are exceptional, but busy.

No plane is perfect, but if you have a 500 - 900 nm mission, and don’t need to take a big load, it is probably the most compelling option in the new plane market.

Appreciate the real world data, people often are reluctant to offer this up with the resident antagonist lurking.

In reference to the growing pains, are they long gone now?

Andrew

Gone? No. Diminishing? Yes.

It’s mostly little things now, most of which Cirrus can fix quite quickly. Sensors, valves, etc. That said, I think most new planes off the factory floor have some kinks to work out. When its a new plane AND a new design, I think you can plan for a couple extra kinks. I know guys who have had essentially no problems, so there doesn’t seem to be anything systemic.

Mark,

I appreciate your post more than most. The real world cost of owning one is much clearer. Now, I know that the effort of acquiring a SF50 at 73 is of no consequence in the larger picture.

I simply can't afford one.

Sounds like a great ride.

Jg

but you admittedly have a completely different mission profile, no?

but you admittedly have a completely different mission profile, no?