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Thread: Cirrus SR20
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Old 11th Oct 2012, 21:27
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Fuji Abound
 
Join Date: May 2001
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That depends on the model.

There are essentially two variants, those with a full glass cockpit, and those without.

Cockpit aside you will find the aircraft considerably quicker than those you have flown. This translates into the scenery passing you by more quickly and into some pilots accustom to slower aircraft falling behind the aircraft. In short events over take them. They end up fast and high for the rejoin, or their navigation goes to pieces because they are struggling to keep up the radio calls, the airspace and the other jobs in the cruise.

You will also find the Cirrus much more slippery than you are accustom. It slows down a great deal more slowly so pilots find themselves going to fast round the circuit and end up hot and high on finals with no chance of losing the height and speed. The first stage of flaps is quite effective but the flap limiting speed is around 120 knots (I fly a 22 most of the time so cant recall the figures for the 20) so you need to have slowed before using them.

The answer is to think about the circuit from a greater distance, slow the aircraft down much earlier, and initially fly a wider circuit and a longer final approach. The other answer with en route flying is to make sure your preflight planning is solid - make sure you know the route, the frequencies, the airspace, in short do everything you can to prepare yourself for staying ahead of the aircraft, and if you are falling behind, slow the thing down, it will cruise at 120 knots very nicely thank you.

The side stick is a doddle and there is no trauma associated with hand flying that is often reported by those I can only assume havent hand flown. I have hand flown many times for a few hours and find it is a delight. The landing and take off will seem a little different the first few times and there is a tendency to fly rather to flat an approach the first few times but only flying the aircraft will solve those problems.

Glass is different than six packs. It will take time to get accustom to glass. Again I am afraid there is no substitute for time in the cockpit. That said the more time you can spend beforehand making sure you are familiar with all the systems the better. There are also some very good glass simulators available. It is a huge waste of money to learn how to use glass in the cockpit.

Don't expect a sprightly performance on the runway. Some would say the 20 is underpowered and you will probably notice very little difference between the 400 and the Cirrus. The 22 is a far better aircraft in this regard. Take care therefore if you try some T and G's, it is very easy to run out of runway, particularly if it was marginal to start with and you inevitably land too long. It is very easy to come to grief. Added to this the tyres and small, the pressure high, so wet grass and 20s are not a good combination as Lord Sugar I recall found to his embarrassment.

The handling will be more positive than the aircraft's to which you are accustom, but the side stick is not twitchy and the roll rate is hardly exciting.

The Cirrus handles cross winds extraordinarily well. Like any aircraft it will ultimately run out of authority with the ailerons letting you down first, but 25 knots is a non event and more possible, not that I would suggest that being a sensible starting point.

I could write more and bore you to death. Sorry if I have already.

Enjoy. Please let us know your thoughts when you have given it a go.
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