Dear Answer Man, what's going on at Rochester International Airport? Are they getting ready to build a new runway?
Not quite, but as of Monday they're rehabbing some existing runway and taxiways. Runway 02/20 will be closed for about six weeks for repairs, and after that, taxiways A1, A3, A6, A7 and A9 will get some TLC. I could go on, but only pilots and air traffic controllers really know what I'm talking about anyway. Rest assured, the airport is keeping airlines and general aviation companies well-informed.
This brings to mind a question I had a few months ago but never got around to:
Answer Man, did you see the very odd-looking plane at the Rochester airport last week? If not, can you find out what it was? — Jim
I didn't see the odd plane, but I was told it was a Cirrus aircraft, and with a little more digging, I finally have the details. It was a Cirrus 3F50 Vision, a new business jet from Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft. Bigwigs from Cirrus were here to show off two versions of the aircraft to an invitation-only crowd. Apparently they gave some flight demonstrations.
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The Vision is a single-engine seven-seater, first shown in 2008. According to Wikipedia, in 2010 the company had about 430 orders for the aircraft, which was priced at about $1.7 million at that time.
It would be interesting to know who got invitations to check out those spendy jets.
