I recently wrote about a presentation to the Atlanta Aero Club by Cirrus co-founder Alan Klapmeier. His tone was optimistic and forward-thinking. According to BusinessNorth.com, Klapmeier's forward thinking is reaching even further...he is considering making a push to find investors and split the SF 50 Jet program from the company he founded.

This rumor is confirmed by a report in the Cirrus Aircraft News site's report on the annual gathering Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association.

At first glance, this might sound a little alarming. How many rock stars split away to do solo albums and end up successful? That apparently isn't a concern here though. Brent Wouters, current Cirrus CEO, is taking part in this announcement and notes that it's a potential way to get the Cirrus Jet into production more quickly. (The Cirrus Aircraft News article says the program is only just entering an 18-21 month "detailed design phase.") Apparently the Cirrus board knows that Klapmeier has a talent for finding investors and are willing to consider supporting his idea.

In spite of some litigation mentioned by BusinessNorth.com, the company has some great products that are wildly popular. As I've said before, I think Klapmeier knows where GA has room to grow and I think he has the ability to take us there. It'll be interesting to see if this idea comes to fruition and how it works our for Cirrus. What do you think...is it a good idea to split Cirrus into two companies?