Safety
Is it safe to fly in a small plane?
It is the first question most people have, so here is the full answer. It comes in five parts: a parachute, an autoland system, a certificate, a pilot, and a weather policy. Each one is specific enough to check.
Part 135
Operating authority
Our own FAA air carrier certificate, No. 11OA100M, issued by the Teterboro office
Two
Backup systems
CAPS whole-airframe parachute and Garmin Safe Return autoland
FIKI
Weather capability
Approved for flight into known icing. Single-engine IFR authorized.
2025
Aircraft
N369ZD, a new-generation Cirrus SR22 G7+
01
The whole airplane has a parachute
Every Cirrus is built around the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, or CAPS. It is a parachute for the entire aircraft, built into the airframe. In a serious emergency the pilot or a passenger pulls a handle, and the whole airplane comes down under canopy. It is standard on every Cirrus, and it is the main reason a modern Cirrus is a different proposition from other small aircraft. Cirrus describes the system on its SR Series page.
02
The airplane can land itself
The aircraft also has Garmin Safe Return. Press one button and the airplane picks a runway, flies there, talks to air traffic control, and lands. That gives you two independent backups built into the aircraft. Neither one is a reason to fly into bad conditions. Everything else on this page is about never needing them. Garmin explains how it works on its Autoland page.
03
We hold our own Part 135 certificate
Charter for hire in the United States requires an FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate. With it come recurring pilot checkrides, drug and alcohol testing, maintenance oversight, and operational control rules that private flying does not have. On Demand Air, LLC is an FAA-certificated Part 135 air carrier, Certificate No. 11OA100M. All charter flights are operated under our own certificate, and our operations specifications authorize single-engine IFR passenger flying in the SR22.
We say this plainly because illegal charter is a real problem in this industry. Whoever you fly with, ask to see the operating certificate. The FAA explains what Part 135 certification involves on its Part 135 certification page, and the aircraft's registration is public in the FAA aircraft registry.
04
Ask about the pilot
Every flight is flown by a professional pilot trained to Cirrus standards, under the airline-style rules our certificate requires: recurrent training, checkrides, and duty-time limits. Our pilot is a commercial pilot, instrument-rated, holding an FAA Class I medical, Cirrus-trained, with more than fifteen years in corporate and charter aviation. Ask us anything about the person up front. We are glad to talk it through before you book.
05
We cancel flights when the weather is wrong
A piston aircraft does not fly through embedded thunderstorms. N369ZD is approved for flight into known icing, which opens up more winter days, but we still make the call early and on the cautious side. When a flight is not right we do not fly it. We work to rebook you, and you get a full refund if the trip cannot happen. The aircraft's datalink weather, terrain alerting, and autopilot give us margin. Our dispatch decisions are where safety actually lives.
The airplane is maintained under our FAA-approved Part 135 maintenance program, and the operation is insured. Ask about either one. A direct answer to a direct question is the best evidence we can give you.
Ask us the hard questions
Certificate, pilot, maintenance, weather. We would rather answer now than have you wonder later.