Had to sign a letter this morning giving CD permission to assign my reserved N-number to my aircraft (position #56). Thought there was a typo as the letter states they’ve assigned me s/n 1056; all previous documentation I’d received indicated 1053.
I called CD and they indicated that the s/n for my position had been changed as they were “slipping in a couple of demonstrators”.
I suppose this is good news for the vast majority of us who have not made the trek to DLH for a demo ride but of course any additional delay, even if only a couple of weeks, doesn’t feel great.
I suppose this is good news for the vast majority of us who have not made the trek to DLH for a demo ride but of course any additional delay, even if only a couple of weeks, doesn’t feel great.
I fully understand your feelings, and in hindsight Cirrus made a mistake in being precise about position number movements, but I will say two things in CD’s defence;
- The original plan was for the first 9 production aircraft to be demonstrators, so the first customer delivery would have been 1010 or something like that. CD recognized it was more important to get planes out to customers (given that they were late anyway) than to have lots of demonstrators.
- CD desperately need more demonstrators, but they also need the cash flow generated by selling aircraft now rather than in three years time, and I know that they are trickling demo planes off the line at a measured rate, and weighing up the benefit to future sales vs. the impact on cash flow right now for each one. A difficult task, and one that shows responsible financial management - something that is as valuable to us as it is to them.
So your three position slip could have been a lot worse - what was your original contract number, Joe?
Had to sign a letter this morning giving CD permission to assign my reserved N-number to my aircraft (position #56). Thought there was a typo as the letter states they’ve assigned me s/n 1056; all previous documentation I’d received indicated 1053.
I called CD and they indicated that the s/n for my position had been changed as they were “slipping in a couple of demonstrators”.
I suppose this is good news for the vast majority of us who have not made the trek to DLH for a demo ride but of course any additional delay, even if only a couple of weeks, doesn’t feel great.
I feel your pain, (I’m with ya man!) but isn’t this proof that you can’t please all of the people all of the time? After weeks of us whining about wanting our demo flights & certification of additional options (Gross weight increase, engine monitoring Garmin 327 transponder, etc.), they appear to listen, make an effort to produce another few Demonstrators/test aircraft.
What do we do? We complain about a potential 1 week delay in delivery! (10 acft per month = 2+ per week) 
Rezo - Do you think this could be why CD doesn’t jump through hoops every time one of us offers a suggestion?
Joe: What number are you? Im hoping to get N191KM late this fall, before Duluth freezes over for the winter.
Marty (#119 - (Hoping and buying long johns)
So your three position slip could have been a lot worse - what was your original contract number, Joe?
You’re quite right, of course. Any delay will be insignificant. I wish I didn’t want this thing that much!!!
Original contract was #139 (admittedly a much higher number); sched delivery date 11/30/98.
Joe: What number are you? Im hoping to get N191KM late this fall, before Duluth freezes over for the winter.
Marty (#119 - (Hoping and buying long johns)
While a most un-original strategy, N527MJ is my wedding anniversary. Hell, between the chute and the registration, my wife bought the whole shebang!