Jay Leno Takes the Controls of the Cirrus G3 Vision Jet Over California

Jay Leno settled into the left seat of a Cirrus G3 Vision Jet on a clear day over Southern California, side yoke in hand and Matt Bergwall from Cirrus sitting beside him. Bergwall walked him through the takeoff sequence, thrust lever forward, acceleration building, then a pull at about 60 knots. Leno compared the sensation right away to one of his turbine motorcycles, only this time the ground was falling away instead of staying under the wheels. The single Williams International FJ33 turbofan mounted on top of the fuselage pushed the 6,000-pound carbon-fiber airframe upward without the usual propeller noise or vibration.

After they cleared the airfield, the two leveled off at 10,000 feet, with a layer of clouds directly beneath them. Bergwall had Leno activate the autopilot so it could maintain 180 knots before increasing it to a steady 240. At those speeds, piloting the Vision Jet feels very similar to flying a fast turboprop, yet the Garmin Perspective Touch+ panels remain sleek and tidy. Even if you can’t see the real horizon, a synthetic vision display provides a clear depiction of the area.

Receiving text messages from ATC to substitute part of the typical radio conversation allows the crew to obtain clearances without having to use the radio at all. When Bergwall finally shut off the autopilot, Leno took over the controls, rolled the plane back into a 45-degree bank, maintained altitude, and felt a very gentle G-load before banking back out. Bergwall brought the plane down for landing, which he accomplished quietly and smoothly.


Cirrus markets the G3 as a personal jet that can be flown by a single pilot after completing the type rating course. The highest cruise speed is about 317 knots true at 31,000 feet, and it consumes approximately 60 gallons of Jet-A per hour. The maximum range with low cargo is around 1,275 nautical miles, and the plane utilized by the film crew to fly from Tennessee to California covered more than 2,000 miles in less than seven hours.


The G3 cabin has been updated, and it now seats six adults and a child. The seats are Alcantara-wrapped hardshells with enhanced tray tables and device mounts, as well as improved outside lighting. On average, the practical load is around 2,450 pounds, and the takeoff distance is less than 2,000 feet.


Two systems really sets the G3 apart from other light jets. The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System is a large canopy that unfolds from the front and lowers the plane to the ground if the engine fails or there is structural damage. Across the Cirrus fleet, the parachute has successfully returned over 300 passengers to the ground after 151 deployments. If a pilot falls unconscious, a red button on the cabin ceiling activates Safe Return emergency landing. The system directs air traffic control where to dispatch the plane, which then flies the approach, lands, brakes, and shuts down the engine on its own. Both of these features come standard on all Vision Jets.


After the flight, Leno continued to talk about cars, claiming that four wheels on the ground still felt more like home. A fully equipped G3 will cost roughly $3.6 million, which is rather inexpensive compared to many of the hypercars on the market today. That’s the type of stuff Bergwall and Leno kept returning to. For those with a single-engine instrument rating, the supplementary type-rating training takes around two weeks. It focuses on studying the jet’s systems rather than multi-engine procedures. The ultimate result is a carbon-fiber personal jet that allows you to soar above the weather, transports a small family or a couple of colleagues, and provides two separate ways to land everyone if things don’t go as planned.