Hi IO540,
Quite right about depreciation! Having followed Cirrus closely over the past year, the aircraft does seem to depreciate about $100K over the course of 3-4 years. Undoubtedly due to the constant technological innovations that Cirrus upgrade their aircraft with and as such they're continually making their older airframes relatively outdated! Whether the depreciation over the course of the first few years is worth it is debatable, but at least we'll have peace of mind with warranty and an aircraft with all the latest innovations and safety modifications.
Whilst Glass Cockpits may not alter mission ability, they do have the secondary impact of presenting a lot more information to you and allowing the user to have better situational awareness. Of course you need additional training (I myself have recently completed the Cirrus Transitional Training with TAA at Denham) but the net impact should be a pilot who has more information to hand, but able to process this without breaking into a sweat, and hopefully able to make safer flights as a result.
You're absolutely right about it being difficult to find pilots willing to invest (hmm... maybe not the right word to use
) a sizeable chunk of cash. I have been trying to form a group for the past year. We now have 5 people signed up and with the signup of 1 more person we will be able to order the aircraft. Touchwood it will be easier to sell the final 2 shares once we have the aircraft sitting on the tarmac at Biggin
Great idea for contacting FAA holders in the UK (we will be going N reg)... I had no idea that this information was readily accessible!