The Associated Press
GRAND FORKS -- Employees at the Cirrus Design Corp. plant here got a break from building airplane parts to inspect a prototype of the company's first jet. Some of them sat in the cockpit.
"It looks like a diamond," employee Judy Simmons said from the inside of the mock-up model unveiled Friday.
More than 200 people have plunked down $100,000 deposits for the $1 million jet, which is not expected to be ready for mass production until at least 2010. Its unique design features a sphere-shaped cabin and V-shaped tail.
"If I had to pick one word, it would be phenomenal," employee Dennis Babinski said. "I'm very excited to be working on the parts for this airplane."
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The jet seats five adults and two children comfortably. It has a range of more than 1,000 miles and a cruising speed of 300 knots. It also has the company's full-airplane parachute -- one of Simmons' favorite features.
"My husband keeps after to me to go to the flying club, but I'm a chicken," she said.
Several employees stayed after the unveiling and video presentation to talk with Cirrus Chief Executive Officer Alan Klapmeier, who told them they would "get a kick out of building parts" for the new jet.
"We want them to be excited about this. This is their future as well," Klapmeier said. "Even the current airplanes -- a big part of what makes the company is the motivation of the people because they're excited about the product. It's just a lot of fun to build airplanes."
Klapmeier, himself a pilot, told employees he likes the simplicity of the plane's controls.
"I fly enough but I'm getting lazier and lazier and lazier," Klapmeier said. "I want an airplane that's easy to operate."
The Grand Forks plant has more than 350 employees who make composite parts for the company's SR22-G3 plane. More than 120,000 parts a year are produced there. Cirrus is based in Duluth, Minn.
"The Grand Forks facility is now becoming renown for the quality and cost effectiveness and the volume that we can produce out of here," Cirrus president and chief operating officer David Coleal said. "Historically, many people thought that you couldn't produce high volume composite parts. Cirrus is showing you can."
