Klapmeier brothers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alan (right) and Dale Klapmeier at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008

Alan (born October 6, 1958 in St. Paul , Minnesota ) and Dale Edward (born July 2, 1961 in Rockford , Illinois ) Klapmeier are American aircraft designers and aviation entrepreneurs . Together they founded the Cirrus Design Corporation in 1984 . Under the leadership of the Klapmeiers, Cirrus was the first aircraft manufacturer to introduce a parachute rescue system for small aircraft that is installed as standard in all Cirrus models. It is used to bring the aircraft and its occupants safely to the ground in an emergency. To date, the system is credited with saving over 150 lives. Furthermore, all of the brothers' constructions are made of composite materials and have glass cockpits . In doing so, they revolutionized general aviation for pilots of modern small aircraft.

Forbes named the Cirrus SR series the best private aircraft. The brothers came 17th out of 51 on their list of “Aviation Heroes” in Flying magazine. On October 4, 2014, Alan and Dale Klapmeier were inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton , Ohio .

"The Klapmeier brothers built the first genuinely new plane in the sky in many years"

"The Klapmeier brothers built the first really newly developed aircraft in many years."

- Forbes Magazine

"The Klapmeier brothers are giving lift to the small-plane industry with an easy-to-fly design"

"The Klapmeier brothers are giving the small aircraft industry a boost with an easy-to-fly construction."

- Time Magazine

The brothers started Cirrus in the basement of their parents' dairy farm in Baraboo , Wisconsin . Their first construction, the VK-30 kit , had its maiden flight in 1988. A few years later, production of the kits initially ended again. During the mid-2000s until he left Cirrus in 2009, Dale had a major impact on the development and design of the Vision Jet . Dale then continued the development, which eventually led to approval and production of the jet in the following years in 2016. The aircraft won the Collier Trophy in 2018 as the first jet of its type on the market.

After Alan left Cirrus, he became CEO of Kestrel Aircraft in 2010 , which merged with Eclipse Aerospace to form One Aviation in 2015 . Dale stayed at Cirrus as a senior advisor and CEO from 2011 to 2019.

Life

Klapmeier family on their Wisconsin farm in the 1970s. Alan and Dale are seated in the upper right corner (Alan left, Dale right)

Family, childhood and youth

Alan and Dale are two of Larry and Carol Klapmeier's three children. You come from an entrepreneurial family. Elder brother Ernie opened a militaria store in Aurora , Illinois in 1992 and continues to run it today. Her uncle Jim Klapmeier and her grandfather Elmer were both entrepreneurs in the boat industry. In the 1950s, they began building houseboats on Rainy Lake , Minnesota with a small two-man business . Elmer also flew deliveries to dairy farmers in a single-engine aircraft in Wisconsin. Jim later moved the boat company to Mora , Minnesota, and operated it for several decades, entering the luxury yacht market .

Parents Larry and Carol were also successful entrepreneurs. They ran a nursing home near Chicago , where the three brothers worked as janitors as children during the 1960s and 1970s.

Alan and Dale Klapmeier grew up in DeKalb , Illinois and attended high school there . Her parents bought a second home on a small farm near Baraboo , Wisconsin in the early 1970s . Aviation was part of their lives from a young age. In 2006, Alan told Airport Journals magazine that the only way his mother could calm him down as a baby was sometimes to take him to the airport in his car and park at the end of the runway so he could see the planes. As children, they were constantly building model airplanes, and Dale urged her father to let them build real airplanes. At the age of 15, Dale learned to fly in a Cessna 140 before he could even drive a car. While still in high school - at the age of 17 - he went to the Civil Air Patrol to get cheap flying lessons. He often visited local airfields to chat with pilots. He often told his friends that he wanted to build planes to compete with his younger brother Cessna .

education

Alan graduated from Ripon College in Wisconsin in 1980 with degrees in physics and economics . During his senior year he developed engineering drawings for a type of aircraft that would later become the Cirrus VK-30 . Dale graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point in 1983 with degrees in administration and business. He once said that he planned to become a banker should her aviation career fail.

Career

Beginnings

In 1979, Dale discovered the wreck of a Champion 7-GC lying upside down at an airfield in northern Wisconsin. The brothers bought the plane cheaply and restored it in a barn on their parents' farm. With this self-study project, they gained their first experience in aircraft construction. Next they built a Glasair 1 , which they got to know when it was presented at the EAA Convention in Oshkosh. David Gustafson of Aircraft Spruce said the only way the brothers could get the money to buy Glasair from their parents was to come up with a business plan that showed why building an aircraft kit would advance their careers .

Cirrus Aircraft

1980s

The Klapmeier brothers in 1984 in front of their parents' barn (Alan sitting)

After Alan and Dale both graduated from college , they started Cirrus Design in 1984. They chose this name in memory of a summer excursion during which the brothers saw cirrus clouds on the horizon a few years earlier and wished they would fly. After starting the company, they approached Jeff Viken, Alan's former college roommate, to ask him for help designing the VK-30 (Viken-Klapmeier). Viken was an aeronautical engineer and married to Sally Viken, who was also an aeronautical engineer. So Cirrus grew to four unpaid employees. Occasionally, Scott Ellenberger, a friend of the Klapmeiers from high school, also helped. The Cirrus VK-30 is a composite aircraft with four to five seats, a pusher propeller, and common wings and tail. All four employees took on both the design and manufacture of various areas. For example, Jeff designed the wings and Sally the flaps . All four designed one part, built it, and began designing the next part. Moulton Taylor, developer of experimental aircraft, advised the Klapmeiers on the design of the VK-30.

Dale (left) and Alan spray polyester resin on the mold of the VK-30 (circa 1985) in the basement of the barn

The Klapmeier brothers often flew with their champion from the farm to their uncle in Mora to borrow tools and materials - such as polyester resin - for building their aircraft and the molds for the fuselage . To save costs, they bought what they could use from various scrapyards in the Wisconsin area: a flight controller from a crashed Piper, the front undercarriage of a Cherokee from which they built a retractable front landing gear, and an O-540 engine with 290 PS that they got from a scrapped De Havilland Heron . Slowly the first VK-30 took shape.

In 1985, shortly after take-off, Alan was involved in a fatal collision near Sauk-Prairie airfield. His aircraft lost part of a wing and half of the aileron . While the second plane crashed and the pilot was killed, Alan was able to fly his machine back to the airfield by maintaining high speed and fully throwing the aileron. After surviving this accident, he looked for ways to make flying safer, which ultimately led to the brothers incorporating a parachute rescue system into all of their constructions from the mid-1990s .

Cirrus hangars at Baraboo-Dells Airfield

In 1986 the Klapmeiers hired their first paid employee. It was Dennis Schlieckau, an experienced welder and designer of aluminum parts. They also borrowed money from friends and family to build a hangar at the Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells airfield and, with the help of just three employees, moved their VK-30 project to their new headquarters in Baraboo. They later built a second hangar there for the production of further prototypes.

VK-30 on the apron in Baraboo

The first presentation of their VK-30 took place in 1987 at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh . In 1988 the Cirrus team gradually grew to over a dozen employees. That year, the Klapmeiers hired a few of their most important employees: Patrick Waddick, current managing director and COO , who had originally been hired as a cleaner, and Paul Johnston, chief engineer of the company and known as one of their most gifted designers. After performing several wing load tests, the first prototype of the VK-30 was ready to fly. Both Alan and Dale wanted to do the maiden flight themselves. However, their mother forbade both of them. The first flight was carried out by NASA test pilot Jim Patton - an acquaintance of Jeff Viken - on February 11, 1988. The first kits were sold at the EAA AirVenture that same year. Shortly thereafter, Jeff and Sally Viken left the company.

Cirrus employee circa 1989–1990. (Dale top left, Alan top right)

In the late 1980s, the brothers approached Sam Williams of Williams International with the question of the possibility of installing a small turbine engine in the VK-30. Although the idea was never realized, it ultimately inspired the development of the Vision Jet concept in the early to mid-2000s.

1990s

In the early 1990s, sales of the VK-30 kits fell and the kit failed on the market. When sales finally stopped in the middle of the decade, only forty had been delivered, of which only thirteen were fully assembled and airworthy. At the end of 1991 the brothers reconsidered their goals and began to think about their lifelong dream , the construction of type-approved aircraft. Alan began designing the ST-50 - a four-seat, turboprop engine . Dale, on the other hand, wanted a simpler model and began developing a concept that would later become the SR20 .

Cirrus-Israviation ST50 at the 1997 Paris Air Show

In the mid-1990s, Cirrus began designing the ST-50 for the Israeli aircraft manufacturer IsrAviation. The machine was a further development of the VK-30 with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-135 engine instead of the piston engine of the VK-30. The first flight of the prototype was made by Norman E. Howell on December 7, 1994. At the beginning of that year, Alan and Dale moved the business from Baraboo to a roughly 2,800 square foot research and development facility in Duluth , Minnesota. At that time the company already had 35 employees and after the move 15 more were hired. They began developing the Cirrus SR20, a single-engine, piston-driven composite machine for four people. The “Hangar X” marketing campaign was also started at this time. The campaign featured a secret, dimly lit hall, the gate of which was only ajar. Inside should be the secret, type-approved aircraft. However, its disclosure was delayed a few months.

At the time, duties were so divided between the brothers that Alan was traveling around the country looking for investors and the capital needed for the SR20's type certification. Dale, on the other hand, stayed at the factory to manage the operational business (design, testing and production). The first prototype of the SR20 completed its maiden flight in March 1995. In the following year, the company laid the foundation stone for a production site with a size of around 6200 square meters in Grand Forks , North Dakota . In 1997, Cirrus began building the first production prototype and expanded the Duluth site by around 7,500 square meters.

Cirrus SR20 testing CAPS in 1998

The Klapmeier's vision made the SR20 the first of many innovations in general aviation . These include glass cockpits , sidestick controls , composite materials, and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). The Cirrus development team spent several weeks in the desert of southern California testing the parachutes in the summer of 1997. To do this, they threw sand-filled barrels from a Fairchild C-123 and flicked the switch that triggered the parachutes when the barrels reached a speed of nearly 200 miles per hour. Before the parachutes worked properly, they failed many tests. In the summer of 1998, Cirrus was ready to test the system with an SR20. Chief Test Pilot Scott D. Anderson, a Stanford graduate and universal scientist well known and respected in Duluth, successfully first used the CAPS. He also flew all seven other missions that triggered the CAPS, which were necessary for the development and approval of the SR20. The aircraft was finally approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in October 1998 and approved as a type.

Type certification granted to the SR20 in 1998. (From left to right: Alan Klapmeier, Cirrus President Patrick Waddick, Dale Klapmeier)

Tragedy struck Cirrus on March 23, 1999 when Scott Anderson was killed in a crash near Duluth International Airport while stressing the first serial SR20 before it was about to be sold. The aileron blocked the plane Anderson was flying . However, the machine was not yet equipped with the parachute system that was later to be installed in series in every machine. In his speech marking his induction into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame on April 24, 2010, Dale said, “Scott was exemplary as a pilot and as a person. To date, the CAPS has saved 35 lives with 17 trips, thanks to Scott's pioneering work. ”Although the Klapmeiers lost a close friend and their most talented test pilot in this tragedy , they were able to solve the problem on the machine and delivered the first SR20 in July 1999 out. In the first year alone, 400 orders were received for the machine.

2000s

At the beginning of the 2000s, sales of the SR20 increased continuously. This led to the development of the Cirrus SR22 , a faster and more powerful version of the SR20. Production of the new pattern began in 2001. In August of that year, Cirrus sold 58% of the company for $ 100 million to Crescent Capital, the US part of the First Islamic Bank of Bahrain (now Arcapita), making the brothers minority owners of their own company were.

piston-driven Cirrus SR22 , built in 2003

In the middle of 2003 the SR22 became the best-selling aircraft in general aviation, overtaking Cessna and fulfilling the brothers' lifelong dream. At that time, Cirrus had over 600 employees. That number rose to over 1000 over the next two years. The company grew rapidly and in 2004 the Klapmeier brothers received the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award .

In 2006, Cirrus peaked, celebrating the production of the three thousandth machine in the SR series in just seven years. In the same year, 35 special editions of the SR22 were released. They were called “Signature Editions” and were delivered with additional features including the signatures of Alan and Dale on the Cowling . In June 2007 the Klapmeiers presented their latest project "The-Jet by Cirrus" together with Mike Van Staagen. It was a single-engine, seven-seater low-wing aircraft that was also to be equipped with the CAPS rescue system. The jet made its maiden flight on July 3, 2008.

In September 2008, the worldwide slump in sales of piston-powered aircraft hit the company and Cirrus, with just over a hundred employees, had to lay off eight percent of its workforce. This included 79 employees at headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota and 29 employees in composites manufacturing in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After the layoffs, the company still employed 1,230 people. In October 2008, Alan, as CEO at the time, decided to work a three-day week due to the decline in orders. Revenues were ten percent lower than the previous year and sixteen percent lower than the average for general aviation.

In response to the market situation, Cirrus cut 208 jobs in autumn 2008 and reduced production from fourteen to twelve aircraft per week. In November of the same year, the company announced that it would set about 500 production workers off for a month to reduce its high inventory.

On December 18, 2008 it was announced that COO Brent Wouters would replace Alan as CEO on February 1, 2009. Alan would remain in the company as chairman with Dale as his agent.

Cirrus SF50

On June 26, 2009, Alan announced that he had put together a team with whom he would implement the vision of the main owner Arcapita of the single-engine jet SF50 in a new company. Over a month later, this venture turned out to be a failure and Wouters announced that Alan's contract as chairman would no longer be renewed and would end at the end of August. Alan left Cirrus a short time later. Dale stayed with the company.

2010s

Alan and Kestrel

At the EAA Airshow 2010, Alan introduced his new company, the Kestrel Aircraft Company , of which he would be CEO. Kestrel was to build the Kestrel K-350 - a single-engine, six-seat composite aircraft. Some of his former colleagues from Cirrus, including Steve Serfling, former head of product development at Cirrus, followed him into the new company. Originally the company was supposed to be based in Brunswick , Maine , but due to a dispute with the state tax authorities , Alan decided in 2012 to relocate operations to Superior , Wisconsin, where the company found better tax conditions. The total value of loans , grants, and tax benefits was $ 118 million, of which the state raised $ 112 million in anticipation of approximately 600 new jobs - most of the new jobs created in Superior since World War II . In 2013, Kestrel employed around 60 people in Superior and around 40 in Brunswick, where composite parts for the aircraft were made.

In May 2014, it was announced that Kestrel was in default of several months in repaying loans to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation due to financial difficulties . Alan said: “We're obviously still very excited about the program. We've made a lot of progress on the design, what we expect to build, what we expect to do with the FAA, but there are other frustrations. Certainly financing the project has been slower than we had hoped and expected. - We are still very excited about the project. We have made great strides in the design that we intend to build in partnership with the FAA, but there have also been setbacks. Surely the funding of the project is happening more slowly than we hoped and expected. ”It was also revealed that the funding problems had an impact on the recruitment of employees, causing the company to reduce its workforce in Superior. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and Kestrel then agreed on new terms that postponed payments until November 2014.

On April 15, 2015, Kestrel merged with Eclipse Aerospace of Albuquerque , New Mexico to form One Aviation with Alan as CEO. The company has faced many legal and financial challenges since its inception . In September 2015, Alan announced that Kestrel's lack of economic success was due to the state of Wisconsin failing to secure funding in a timely manner. In 2017 he told AINonline that the development of the K-350 had been put on hold and One Aviation wanted to concentrate on the approval of the Eclipse 700 - a further development of the Eclipse 550 . The company filed for bankruptcy in October 2018 .

Dale and Cirrus

In September 2009, Dale became interim chairman of Cirrus. On September 19, 2011, Cirrus named him new CEO and announced that Brent Wouters was no longer part of the company. In April 2012, after a few years of financial problems, the company announced that the approval and start of production of the Vision SF50 would be financially secured by a major investment by the new owner China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company (CAIGA). The takeover by CAIGA was initially received with great skepticism when it was announced in early 2011. Calling the investment in the jet a huge milestone for the company, Dale said the new owners were actively working with Cirrus and providing critical resources to meet and exceed shared goals. 2013 and 2014 saw Cirrus' most successful years in terms of sales and deliveries since the 2008 recession. According to the company, the SR22 was the top-selling general aviation aircraft for twelve consecutive years. In 2014 the company introduced prototypes of three new versions of the SF50 and employed over 800 people, of whom over 300 had been hired in the previous three years. In May 2015, Dale and Head of Customer Service Todd Simmons announced that Cirrus would be setting up a Knoxville , Tennessee location called the Vision Center, where all of the company's customer activities would take place. The SF50 received type certification on October 28, 2016. This made the SF50 the first civil, single-engine jet to be approved by the FAA. Shipments began in December 2016. In June, Dale accepted the Collier Trophy on behalf of Cirrus and the Vision Jet team. This award is for the greatest achievement in the aerospace industry in the United States over the past year.

On December 19, 2018, it was announced that Dale would step down as CEO at some point during the first half of 2019 and assume a role as the company's senior advisor. Until then, Cirrus would be looking for a new CEO. On June 4, 2019, Cirrus announced that former Tesla CEO Zean Nielsen had been selected to succeed Dale.

Character differences

Professionally, Alan is better known as the communicative, risk-taking "dreamer" while Dale is more of the silent "practitioner". The prevailing opinion is that this is one of the reasons for the brothers' success - Alan develops the creative ideas and Dale implements them.

“The difference between the two of us is that Alan is a dreamer, and he's extremely aggressive in what he wants. I'm far more conservative than he is, and I've always loved the hands-on stuff. "

“The difference between the two of us is that Alan is a dreamer and he gets pretty aggressive when he wants to achieve anything. I'm far more conservative than he is and I've always loved handicrafts. "

- Dale Klapmeier : Duluth News Tribune

“Dale is more practical [than me] —unbelievably practical, in fact. Dale figures out how to make [the design] work. "

“Dale is far more practical [than me] - incredibly practical. Dale always finds a way to implement [a construction]. "

- Alan Klapmeier : Airport Journals

For most of her early career, Alan was his associate director at Cirrus and Dale. In a 1999 article in IndustryWeek magazine about the Klapmeiers, Alan joked that he was the managing director only "because I'm the older brother" and in a 2012 article in Aircraft Spruce magazine about the Klapmeiers' activities in Referring to aircraft kits during the 1980s, Dale referred to Alan as "the inspiration and the driving force" behind their efforts.

Memberships in associations and other bodies

The Klapmeier brothers have already worked in many aviation bodies and programs. Alan was a member of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), AOPA's Air Safety Foundation, and the Small Aircraft Manufacturers Association . He is currently a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the governing body of MVP Aero Inc. Dale was a member of the Red Tail Project, the Young Eagles Program of the EAA and the NASA Aeronautics Research & Technology Roundtable, and a founding member of the Scott D. Anderson Leadership Foundation. He is currently a member of the Minnesota Airspace Board and the Advisory Board of the Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA).

In 2003, Alan and Dale donated a fully functional SR20 to the Seattle Museum of Flight as a teaching aid for students. Ten years later, Dale donated an SR22 to the AirSpace Minnesota Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training center in Minneapolis .

For much of the 2000s, Alan was a partner in Bluewater Yachts, the Minnesota boat building company that his uncle founded in the 1950s.

Dale also regularly participates in the Black Woods Blizzard Tour charity - an annual snowmobile ride in northern Minnesota - which raises funds to help fight ALS . He is also involved in the Angel Flight West charity .

Private life

In addition to his SR22, Alan owns a Piper Meridian and a DHC-1 Chipmunk from 1950. Dale drives a Harley-Davidson and a 2003 Corvette . Both brothers are avid snowmobilers. For business and personal travel, Alan flies an Eclipse 500 SE and Dale a Cirrus SR22.

There are reports that the brothers fell apart when Alan left Cirrus in 2009. Alan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2012 that he had not spoken to Dale in a number of years but would not discuss why. In March 2014, Alan sued Cirrus for violating a non-denigrating agreement after former Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters criticized Alan's ability to run a large company through tough economic times in a 2011 interview. A Minnesota court awarded Alan $ 10 million for costs incurred and lost profits. Cirrus then appealed and a state court overturned the lower court's decision on the grounds that the calculations of the losses were too speculative and the amounts under discussion could not be credibly substantiated. The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed Alan's appeal, ending the lawsuit in December 2015.

Alan was married to Sara Dougherty from 2002 to 2016. With his first wife Patti Graves, with whom he was married from 1987 to 1999, he has the daughters Kathryn (* 1989) and Sarah (* 1993).

Dale has been married to Patricia Meyer since 1984. The couple has sons Ryan (* 1988) and Blake (* 1992). In a 2008 interview, Dale said one of his incentives for designing the SR20 was to build an airplane that Patricia would rather fly than drive a car. Among other things, this contributed to the change in orientation of Cirrus in the 1990s.

Reputation and recognition

Generally, the Klapmeier brothers are credited with revolutionizing the private aviation industry.

James Fallows , journalist , author and former speechwriter for US President Jimmy Carter wrote several articles about the brothers in magazines such as The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine . In an article in 2010, he wrote that the brothers had completely turned a stagnant, declining industry inside out. They were also the subject of Fallon's book Free Flight: Inventing the Future of Travel from 2001.

The aviation community often compares the Brothers to the Wright Brothers and nicknamed them "The Wright Brothers of the Present." The story of Cirrus has also been compared to the story of Apple , with Alan and Dale being referred to as the aviation equivalent of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak .

The Klapmeiers first achieved national fame in 1998 when radio host Paul Harvey made positive comments about Cirrus and the SR20 on his nationwide broadcast. In 2004, former US Vice President Dick Cheney indirectly mentioned the brothers and called Cirrus a success story. Furthermore, the Klapmeiers have received numerous praise from former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty for their activities. After visiting Cirrus in Duluth in 2003, Pawlenty thanked Alan and Dale for their foresight in developing and bringing a new aircraft to market and for the risks they took in creating it. The late Jim Oberstar , a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota , was also a major supporter of the Klapmeiers and was one of the main advocates for Cirrus' move to Duluth alongside Bill King of Cirrus and former Mayor of Duluth Gary Doty .

In 2007 the Brothers were presented with the Living Legends of Aviation Award at a ceremony in Beverly Hills . Those in attendance at the awards ceremony included aviation pioneers and other celebrities such as Bob Hoover , Buzz Aldrin , Steve Fossett , Michael Dorn , Patty Wagstaff , Cliff Robertson , Chuck Yeager, and many others.

The British businessman Alan Sugar said of the Klapmeier brothers that he practically for building Cirrus out of nowhere and for their use of technologies such as parachutes, glass cockpits and fuselages from GFK admire.

Besides Lance Neibauer of Lancair , almost 600 copies of the Columbia series has shipped, the Klapmeiers the only producers of aircraft movements , the successful transition to the production of Type-Approved bewerkstelligten aircraft. In both cases, the Experimental Aircraft Association was an important training ground that sparked their ambition.

Honors and prizes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Klapmeier, Alan L. & Dale E. nationalaviation.org, 2014, accessed on January 14, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Fleet First - The First Cirrus SR20 Finds a Home. AOPA, October 1999, accessed on April 3, 2017 (English).
  3. ^ CAPS History by Cirrus Owners & Pilots Association. Cirruspilots.org, accessed on September 21, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b Top 100 Airplanes: Platinum Edition. Flying Magazine, accessed February 5, 2015 .
  5. ^ A b c Robert Goyer: 10 Ways that the SR22 Changed Flying. Flying Magazine, April 15, 2011, accessed January 14, 2020 .
  6. ^ A b c Robert Goyer: 51 Heroes of Aviation. Flying Magazine, July 24, 2013, accessed January 14, 2020 .
  7. ^ Cirrus Soars at First Flight Celebration. US Centennial of Flight Commission, August 1, 2003, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  8. ^ A b c National Aviation Hall of Fame reveals names of “Class of 2014” at Wright Brothers Anniversary dinner. NationalAviation.org, December 17, 2013, accessed January 14, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b c Cirrus Aircraft Co-Founders Dale and Alan Klapmeier Inducted into National Aviation Hall of Fame. PRNewswire, 2014, accessed December 1, 2014 .
  10. ↑ 50 of America's Best. Forbes Magazine, April 30, 2001, accessed January 14, 2020 .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Cirrus Design's Alan And Dale Klapmeier: “Dumb Enough To Start And Smart Enough To Finish”. Airport Journals, January 2007, accessed on January 14, 2020 .
  12. ^ A b Finding the Right Funding - The Klapmeier brothers' Key Move. StartupNation, March 14, 2010, accessed January 14, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Mike Ivey: Airplane Deal in Superior Has Interesting Back Story - A Tale of Two Brothers. 2012, accessed January 17, 2015 .
  14. ↑ a b c d Cirrus Design Corporation VK-30 - N33VK. EAA Museum, accessed November 25, 2014 .
  15. ↑ a b Dave Hirschman: Cirrus Lands Collier. AOPA, accessed on May 23, 2018 (English).
  16. ↑ a b Julie Walker: Cirrus Takes Collier Trophy for the Vision Jet. AOPA, accessed on July 21, 2018 .
  17. ↑ a b c Bill Glaber: Wisconsin Entrepreneur Points Kestrel Aircraft to Superior Skies. May 2012, accessed November 25, 2014 .
  18. ^ A b Mary Grady: Kestrel And Eclipse Join Forces. AVWeb, April 15, 2015, accessed on April 16, 2015 .
  19. ↑ a b Dale Klapmeier Named CEO. Cirrus Aircraft News, 2011, accessed January 31, 2015 .
  20. ^ A b Peter Passi: Cirrus names new CEO; Co-founder Klapmeier steps down. Duluth News Tribune, June 4, 2019, accessed June 4, 2019 .
  21. ^ Castle Keep Ltd. Manta.com, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  22. ↑ a b c Bluewater Yachts | About Us. Retrieved September 30, 2015 .
  23. ↑ a b c d Mike Touzeau: Brothers Achieve Childhood Dream to Take on Cessna. Green Valley News, May 5, 2004, accessed June 11, 2014 .
  24. ^ Sima Griffith: Encouraging Entrepreneurs. Twin Cities Business Magazine, July 28, 2013, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g h Cirrus Design Corporation - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Cirrus Design Corporation. Reference for Business - Company History Index, accessed June 11, 2014 .
  26. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k David Gustafson: The Klapmeier Brothers - Homebuilts to Factory Builts. (pdf) Retrieved June 11, 2014 (English).
  27. ↑ a b c EAA Board of Directors - Alan Klapmeier. EAA - The Spirit of Aviation, accessed April 3, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Central Wisconsin Economics Research Bureau - Alumni - School of Business and Economics | UWSP. University of Wisconsin, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  29. ↑ a b Leadership Team - Dale Klapmeier. Cirrus Aircraft, accessed October 1, 2015 .
  30. ^ The Dream Brothers: Alan And Dale Klapmeier. Airport Journals, June 1, 2005, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Meg Godlewski: Training that's just your type. General Aviation News, April 27, 2014, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  32. ↑ a b c d e f James Fallows: Freedom of the Skies. The Atlantic, June 2001, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  33. ↑ a b Max Trescott: General Aviation Heroes Part IV Dale and Alan Klapmeier of Cirrus Design. Retrieved January 15, 2020 .
  34. ↑ AC / DC TIG Inverters Offer Advanced Welding Controls to Overcome Challenges in Aluminum Welding Applications. Miller Electric Manufacturing Co., accessed January 15, 2020 .
  35. ↑ a b c d e f James Fallows: Turn Left at Cloud 109. The New York Times Magazine, November 21, 1999, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  36. ^ Wisconsin Aviation History. Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  37. ^ One-time Cirrus intern named company president. Duluth News Tribune, March 13, 2013, accessed June 25, 2016 .
  38. ↑ Mark Huber: The $ 2 Million Personal Jet. Barron's, September 9, 2016, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  39. ^ Rare Airplanes in Flight. Flying Magazine, August 26, 2013, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  40. ↑ Norman Howell: irrus ST50 First Flight. EAA Chapter 1000, December 1994, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  41. ^ Robert Goyer: Cirrus SR20 G3. Flying Magazine, September 5, 2008, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  42. ^ Minnesota Innovation at Work. Vimeo.com, April 14, 2014, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  43. ↑ a b Bob Kelleher: Cirrus Design looks west. Minnesota Public Radio, June 7, 2005, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  44. ↑ James Fallows: Lidle lawsuit update: the myth of 'aileron failure'. The Atlantic, March 7, 2007, accessed June 11, 2014 .
  45. ↑ a b Cirrus SR20 demonstrator kills test pilot in prison crash. Flight Global, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  46. ^ Scott D. Anderson Inducted Into Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame. Aero News Network, May 10, 2010, accessed January 15, 2020 (dn).
  47. ↑ Douglas Colby: Cirrus SR22-G2 - The Klapmeiers' vision enters the second generation. Plane & Pilot, December 1, 2004, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  48. ↑ a b Rick Durden: 2013: A Good Year for Cirrus. AVWeb, February 21, 2014, accessed September 14, 2014 .
  49. ^ A b Minnesota and Dakotas Entrepreneurs Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004 Award Winners. Business Wire, June 10, 2004, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  50. ↑ Thomas B. Haines: WAYPOINTS - THE RETURN OF THE V-TAIL. AOPA, September 5, 2007, accessed on January 15, 2020 .
  51. ^ Paul Bertorelli: Cirrus' The-Jet Flies. AVWeb, July 3, 2008, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  52. ^ Paul Bertorelli: Cirrus Cuts Production. AVWeb, October 26, 2008, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  53. ^ Paul Bertorelli: Cirrus Furloughs Production Workers Until January. AVWeb, November 25, 2008, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  54. ↑ Russ Niles: New CEO At Cirrus, Klapmeier Still Chairman. AVWeb, December 2008, accessed on July 6, 2014 .
  55. ↑ Matt Thurber: Klapmeier Team Vying To Buy Cirrus Jet Program. AIN Online, June 26, 2009, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  56. ↑ Russ Niles: Klapmeier Jet Deal Collapses. AVWeb, July 2009, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  57. ↑ Russ Niles: Klapmeier Out As Cirrus Chairman. AVWeb, August 2009, accessed November 4, 2017 .
  58. ↑ a b Creator and former CEO of Cirrus leaves the company. Duluth News Tribune, August 2009, accessed April 22, 2016 .
  59. ↑ Mark Phelps: Alan Klapmeier Takes Lead Position at Kestrel. Flying Magazine, July 27, 2010, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  60. ↑ Kestrel Lands in Superior. Duluth Reader, January 2012, accessed July 7, 2014 .
  61. ^ Brunswick's Kestrel Aircraft struggling to pay workers, rent. Bangor Daily News, September 2013, accessed September 9, 2014 .
  62. ↑ Financing Delays Impact Kestrel Project in Superior. WDIO Eyewitness News, accessed November 25, 2014 .
  63. ↑ Danielle Kaeding: Years after Kestrel deal, unmet goals and hard feelings. Duluth News Tribune, September 22, 2015, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  64. ^ Seth Koenig: Kestrel Aircraft under scrutiny for Wisconsin tax deal. Portland Press Herald, September 30, 2015, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  65. ^ John Myers: Aircraft plans grounded: Wisconsin taking legal action against Kestrel; IRRRB loan sits untouched. Duluth News Tribune, October 17, 2017, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  66. ↑ Rob Finfrock: One Aviation Enters Chapter 11 restructuring. AINonline, October 10, 2018, accessed on January 16, 2020 .
  67. ↑ Chad Trautvetter: Handoff - Cirrus: Alan Klapmeier to Dale Klapmeier. AINonline, December 2009, accessed December 7, 2019 .
  68. ↑ Our view: Putting on a happy face for Cirrus sale. Duluth News Tribune, March 1, 2011, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  69. ^ Cirrus New Owner Funds SF50 Personal Jet. Aviation Week, April 2012, accessed October 11, 2015 .
  70. ↑ a b Cirrus Aircraft Deliveries in 2014 Drive Strongest Performance in Six Years. Cirrus Aircraft News, February 11, 2015, accessed February 27, 2015 .
  71. ^ Cirrus Aircraft Customer Experience 'Vision Center' will expand to Knoxville, TN. Cirrus Aircraft, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  72. ↑ Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet Gets FAA Nod. AINonline, October 31, 2016, accessed on November 13, 2016 .
  73. ↑ Brooks Johnson: Cirrus delivers first vision jet, unveils new facility. Duluth News Tribune, December 19, 2016, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  74. ↑ Kerry Lynch: Dale Klapmeier To Step Down as Cirrus CEO. AINonline, December 19, 2018, accessed on December 20, 2018 .
  75. ^ A b Cirrus Aircraft CEO, Co-Founder Dale Klapmeier Stepping Down Next Year. Twin Cities Business, December 19, 2018, accessed April 27, 2019 .
  76. ^ A b Peter Strozniak: Growth Takes Fight at Cirrus - How Alan and Dale Klapmeier Took Cirrus Design to New Heights of Aviation Innovation. IndustryWeek, January 1999, accessed March 3, 2015 .
  77. ^ MVP Aero developing light sport amphib. AOPA, July 27, 2014, accessed on April 19, 2016 .
  78. ^ SR20 Goes to Seattle, for Kids. Aero News Network, July 9, 2003, accessed January 15, 2020 .
  79. ↑ Cirrus SR22 to be Donated to AirSpace Minnesota. Flying Magazine, May 31, 2013, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  80. ↑ 2009 Recap. Retrieved July 9, 2014 .
  81. ↑ Cirrus Aircraft + Dale Klapmeier - 2018 Inspiration Awardee. Youtube, accessed on April 27, 2019 .
  82. ↑ a b James Fallows: Alan Klapmeier, the Kestrel, and Lane Wallace. The Atlantic, August 4, 2010, accessed April 27, 2019 .
  83. ^ Minnesota Supreme Court denies review of Cirrus co-founder's appeal. Duluth News Tribune, December 3, 2015, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  84. ↑ Marriages and Divorces for June 10, 2016. Duluth News Tribune, June 2016, accessed March 19, 2018 (2016-06-11).
  85. ↑ a b gustavslora - pafg07.htm - Generated by Personal Ancestral File. Jorandby.net, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  86. ↑ Dale Klapmeier, 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. 2008, accessed January 8, 2016 .
  87. ↑ a b James Fallows: How a Small Plane Crash Looks When Passengers Are About to Survive Rather Than About to Die. The Atlantic, May 12, 2014, accessed July 3, 2014 .
  88. ↑ a b The Soul of a New Flying Machine. The Atlantic, May 25, 2001, accessed September 12, 2014 .
  89. ↑ Innovation For Sale - An American Success Story Is No Longer American. Blue Side Up - General Aviation and History, March 1, 2011, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  90. ↑ October 5, 2004 Transcript. Comission on Presidential Debates, October 5, 2004, accessed January 16, 2020 .
  91. ^ Minnesota Governor Visits Cirrus Design. Aero News Network, January 8, 2003, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  92. ↑ Oberstar Legacy Soars with Twin Ports Aviation. WDIO, May 5, 2014, accessed July 14, 2014 .
  93. ^ Living Legends of Aviation Gather in LA. Airport Journals, February 1, 2007, accessed on January 16, 2020 .
  94. ↑ Lord Sugar and his Cirrus. Youtube, 2015, accessed on April 27, 2019 .
  95. ↑ Waypoint - A Historic Moment. AOPA, December 5, 1998, accessed August 21, 2016 .
  96. ↑ August Raspet Award | EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Experimental Aircraft Association, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  97. ↑ Admiral Luis de Florez Flight Safety Award | Flight Safety Foundation. Flightsafety.org, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  98. ↑ PAV News from AirVenture 2006. Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation, accessed on September 30, 2015 (English).
  99. ^ Living Legends of Aviation Gather in LA. Airport Journals, accessed on July 25, 2014 .
  100. ↑ Klapmeier Brothers Named 2007 Recipients of Godfrey L. Cabot Award. Airport Journals, August 1, 2007, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  101. ↑ Freedom of Flight Award | EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Experimental Aircraft Association, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  102. ↑ UMD Currents Newsletter. University of Minnesota Duluth, accessed September 30, 2015 .
  103. ↑ Klapmeier brothers get keys to 'aviation's city'. Airventure.org, August 2, 2008, accessed July 25, 2014 .
  104. ↑ Weekly Communication 5/26/2011. (pdf) Cirrus Aircraft, 2011, accessed on February 24, 2017 (English).
  105. ↑ Award for the best in the aviation industry: fliegermagazin Award 2012. Fliegermagazin, April 19, 2012, accessed on January 16, 2020 .