Friday, December 7, 2007

Boni Caldeira: Seriously Cirrus

In June 2007, Boni Caldeira scored his dream job; a position as regional sales rep in the mid-Atlantic region for Cirrus Design Corp.

While the title isn’t that exciting, the work definitely is -- Caldeira gets to sport around practically every day in a brand new Cirrus SR22 GTS Turbo, the company’s four-seat, 220kt, half-a-million-dollar top-of-the-line 25,000ft cruiser.

“This is it for me,” he says, finding it difficult not to crack a satisfied smile. A typical week for Caldeira includes two days of flying and three days of “office duties,” which can include follow-ups from demo flights, delivering aircraft or visiting flight schools who use Cirrus aircraft as trainers.

Caldeira, 37, was smitten by the aviation bug more than a decade ago when he saw first hand the advantages of owning and flying a private aircraft. Caldeira was working in the equestrian business and tiring of the frequent commutes by automobile up and down the eastern seaboard. He learned to fly at 26 and just kept going, becoming a flight instructor at 30 and launching into a full-time aviation career.

Then it happened. One of his clients in 2003 purchased a Cirrus SR22 in 2003 and Caldeira got his first ride.

“The moment I flew that plane I said to myself, I gotta figure out how to fly this plane more often,” says Caldeira. Soon after he became an independent Cirrus standardized flight instructor specializing in Cirrus transition and recurrent training, and he joined forces with three others to launch Open Air, an air taxi service using Cirrus aircraft, a venture he later left.

Caldeira figures the experience helped him though when Cirrus earlier this year was looking for a regional rep to be based in Frederick, Maryland. More apparent to Cirrus however might have been his ability to relay to customers a time management solution that made a life easier for him many years ago. “If you have a travelling challenge, that’s what this plane does for you,” says Caldeira.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I know Boni - flew with him in an SR22. What an absolutely a terrific guy! Keep up the good work Boni!

- Paul Biegel