While general aviation is a great tool for personal transportation and business, it can also open up a world of adventure. For Peter Claeys, regional director for Cirrus in China and Southeast Asia, flying a Cirrus SR22 into airports where no Cirrus has gone before is just part of his job. “My role for Cirrus is to develop the business in China,” he said, seeking out good sites for new sales and service centers. On some of those trips, he took along as copilot Jim Fallows, a writer for The Atlantic Monthly who is currently based in Beijing. Fallows has posted some stories and pictures from their flights at his blog, well worth a look.
Fallows owned an SR20 that he sold last year when he moved to China, so the opportunity to fly along with Claeys was welcome. “Peter had to get the plane from Japan, where it had been used for demos, down to Taiwan, where he had other demo flights scheduled, and then later to Macau,” Fallows told AVweb last week. “So on the principle that it’s nicer to take a long trip with a copilot than not, he asked if I wanted to come. And on the principle (on my side) that this would be fun, I said yes.” Check out Jim’s stories here and here.
