DALE KLAPMEIER

Brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier daydreamed in their childhood about building airplanes, first models and then a kit plane, collecting thousands of aviation magazines along the way. In 1979, while attending Ripon College, Alan began the design of what became the VK-30 – the first Cirrus. Joined by Dale and college roommate Jeff Viken, they formed Wisconsin-based Cirrus Design in 1984 in a rural Baraboo dairy barn. The Klapmeiers’ parents were entrepreneurial and very supportive of their dream and enterprise, as the hard work and risk required was no surprise.
 
In 1999, after moving their operations to Duluth, Minnesota, Cirrus began producing its signature product – the FAA-certified composite, SR series single-engine piston, four-seat aircraft with its unique built-in parachute. The goal was to build an airplane that would excite a new General Aviation customer. The concept was dismissed by many, but with this easy-to-fly, sleek-looking composite aircraft, with an oversized, futuristic, two-door design, Cirrus soon outsold Cessna and every other small plane manufacturer in the world. The Cirrus SR22 continues to be the bestselling aircraft in its class over 20 years later.
 
Of course, designing and certifying a new technology airplane is not “easy”, but the team at Cirrus did just that in about 5 years. According to Alan and Dale, the “glass cockpit” was a most important change in the industry, the piece of technology that caused the industry to grow. The Klapmeiers also decided to put an airframe parachute on their aircraft long before it had ever flown.
 
Financing the project was a huge challenge. “Raising money was harder for us than designing, certifying, building or selling our airplanes,” Alan said. Cirrus used a combination of family investments, economic development, and finally, outside equity investors to pay for the cost of design and certification. Even more money was necessary to ramp-up production.
 
Alan is generally considered the creative “vision” with Dale the practical “problem solver”. “We design with the mind of an engineer, but the heart of a pilot. We design products that are more intuitive; to do what you expect it to do, opposed to what you’re taught it should do.” They both have a passion for aviation and have been doing this all of their lives. Clearly they love airplanes, flying and care deeply about aviation.
 
Both Alan and Dale Klapmeier were recipients of the 4th Annual Living Legends “Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in 2006.
 
As an update, the Klapmeiers slowly gave up majority control of the company to outside investors. Those majority owners eventually voted Alan out as CEO in late 2008, ultimately resulting in him leaving the company in 2009. Cirrus faced financial challenges during the Great Recession and was sold to a Chinese company in 2011 but still manufactures airplanes in the United States, operating now in seven U.S. states across the country. The brothers’ single-engine Vision Jet program became certified in 2016 and won the prestigious Collier 

Trophy in 2018. Dale served as Cirrus CEO from 2011 until his retirement in 2019 at their Duluth headquarters and Knoxville, Tennessee customer center. In 2010, Alan partnered with Farnborough Aircraft Ltd. to form the Kestrel Aircraft Company based in Superior, Wisconsin and Brunswick, Maine. In 2015, Kestrel and Eclipse combined under a new holding company called ONE Aviation. Today, both brothers are retired.
 
The Klapmeiers’ collective impact on the light aircraft aviation industry is indelible: from glass cockpits, to ballistic parachutes, composite materials, autoland technology and personal jets, their legacy is one of revolutionary change for an industry that hadn’t experienced any in several decades. 

Together Alan and Dale Klapmeier were inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2014.