Cirrus trainers for El Salvador
Recently, the Salvadoran Minister of Defence, Rene Francis Merino Monroy, presided over the handover ceremony of two Cirrus SR22T light aircraft to the Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña (FAS, Salvadoran Air Force).
The two Cirrus’, still wearing their US civil registrations N278AA (c/n 8800) and N694SY (c/n 8696) will be used for training with the Escuela Militar de Aviacion (EMA, military aviation school) at Ilopango, San Salvador. After the retirement of the SOCATA MS893 Rallyes in 2010, the dwindling fleet of ENAER T-35 Pillans took the burden of training future Salvadoran Air Force pilots. Both new training aircraft provide a welcome relief to the strained capacity of the EMA.
N278AA had already arrived at Ilopango on 26 October 2022 via Fort Lauderdale (FL) and Cozumel (Mexico) from their US production plant, whereas N694SY had followed via Panama and La Aurora (Guatemala) on 7 November 2022. Between 7 and 9 November, various successful test and familiarisation flights were made from Ilopango in Salvadoran airspace. The official handover ceremony to the FAS took place on 1 December 2022 at Ilopango.
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Photo by Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña