Dale Klapmeier to step down as Cirrus CEO
Will remain in a senior advisory role
Cirrus co-founder and CEO Dale Klapmeier will be stepping down as CEO of the innovative Duluth, Minnesota-based company that produces composite aircraft with airframe parachutes. The transition is expected to occur within the first half of 2019 as Cirrus looks for a new chief.
Klapmeier, who has served as CEO since 2011, will continue to be involved with the company in a senior advisory role. He had stepped back from the day-to-day operations in 2013 to focus on the company’s vision and new products.
“Dale’s significant leadership over the years has propelled Cirrus to its position as an industry leader and innovator. I am pleased to hear that he will remain in a strategic role at Cirrus and look forward to seeing the company continue its growth in general aviation,” said AOPA President Mark Baker.
Klapmeier and his brother, Alan, co-founded Cirrus in 1984. The brothers were inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2014. Alan now heads One Aviation, a company formed from merging Kestrel Aviation and Eclipse Aerospace.
Cirrus launched the piston Cirrus SR20 in 1999 and SR22 in 2000. The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System is one of the cornerstones of the company’s aircraft. Cirrus said the SR20 was the “first certified aircraft to be delivered with a whole-airframe parachute system.” The new SF50 Vision Jet, a single-engine personal jet, also features CAPS. The SF50 first flew in 2008 and was certified in 2016. Cirrus won the 2017 Robert J. Collier Trophy for “designing, certifying, and entering into service the Vision Jet, the world’s first single-engine general aviation personal jet, and implementing a whole airframe parachute system for the aircraft.” Training and deliveries for the SF50 take place at the new Vision Center that opened in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2017.
Cirrus is owned by China Aviation Industry General Aviation Co.
