With Duluth, Minn.-based Cirrus Design set to be a first-time exhibitor at this month’s EBACE, the speculation is that the company will finally unveil its long talked-about single-engine very light jet at the European show. In November, the company promised that “over the coming months, more details will emerge around the Cirrus personal jet.”

A Cirrus spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny that the company will announce such a project at EBACE, but signs point in that direction. Early last month, Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) president and CEO Larry Williams told AIN it is working on a ballistic recovery parachute system for very light jets and could “announce something in the next couple of months.” (BRS manufactures the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (caps) for the SR20 and SR22 piston singles.) Williams said the VLJ system will likely be a two-stage device–a drag chute to slow the aircraft and a parachute to control the descent–and would need to be heavily integrated into the aircraft’s design.

Last fall, Cirrus president and CEO Alan Klapmeier said his company’s personal jet “would probably cost less than $1 million and would, of course, be equipped with” caps. Cirrus executive vice president and cofounder Dale Klapmeier added that the company’s personal jet would be “easy for the pilot to fly, easy to operate in all environments and…designed so that everyone on board will enjoy the experience. [It] will be designed as the next step up for an SR22 pilot.”

AIN will be publishing news from EBACE on AINonline (www. ainonline.com).