Arrival to Duluth: Walking into the factory was great. A small message board welcomed me and other visitors by name. A name tag had already been prepared for me and was waiting on the counter. Kate and Lisa greeted me with enthusiastic smiles. If you’ve called Cirrus’s central number, then you probably know Lisa already: she’s the cheerful voice at the end of the phone.
The trip up there was anything but uneventful thanks to Delta’s fine maintenance. Since you really only care about Cirrus and the SR22, I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, I finally arrived in Duluth at 3:00, about 1 hour after my scheduled delivery time of 2 PM. No matter, SR22 s/n 0017 - N191KM wasn’t quite ready. It seems that it had either a fuel leak or fuel gauge sending unit problem or maybe a combination of both that the production folks were still working on. They said that it would be ready a little late. All-in-all, I’d rather have them take their time and do a good job than rush through it.
Cirrus Day 1: Well, that stretched through Wednesday morning and then on into the afternoon. The down time was not totally wasted as Kate gave me a great factory tour, which I will discuss more later. I was also introduced to many of the Cirrus folks. Finally around 3 PM, Alison presented the airplane. It looked great! Heck, it was mine. I’ve waited 4+ years. It WAS great. There were a few minor blemishes and a nav light bulb was out. The bulb was replaced in minutes. The best news: empty weight of the "B" model 1KM with Stormscope was 1 pound under the "A" model spec of 2250.
Gary Black took me for my delivery flight. What a tough job. The plane outperformed anything I’ve personally flown and the interior was beautiful. There is nothing else in the GA fleet over a few years old which compares. Once I got used to the interior, the next startling thing is the acceleration. This plane wants to fly and once in the air, it wants to climb.
Gary put the plane through its paces and showed me many of the capabilities of the auto-pilot and other systems. So much of the avionics were new to me, I was barely able to keep up with Gary’s narration. If my memory is correct, the plane trued at 179 knots @ 4,000’ MSL, about 1 knot better than the POH said it should. I was given a few minutes of stick time and then turned the plane back over to Gary for a coupled ILS. That was one heck of a 20 minutes! (Gary, sorry I drooled all over you, but you must be used to it by now. Occupational hazard, I suppose.)
Upon landing, 1KM and a short list of blemishes were turned over to Chris Dixon for his attention. Alison & I sat down to handle the paperwork.
Other than finish items, the plane worked terrifically. (s/n 18, which managed to get delivered on Tuesday before me, had a few nagging problems including an altitude pre-select calibration/tracking issue and other minor avionic squawks.) The only squawk 1KM experienced the entire trip was an intermittent difference between the wet compass and the Sandel.
Training: Ground training started late on Wednesday afternoon after the delivery flight and paperwork. 1KM was turned over to the capable hands of Chris for repair of the squawks. Ron, who clearly knew SR22’s very well, was my instructor. He was tolerant of my mistakes, many of which must have seen like I was a natural blonde (no offense intended to anyone – I just made some pretty stupid mistakes and forgot things that I’ve known for years.) I knew I had done something wrong when I noticed a grin on Ron’s face as he waited for me to realize my error. Usually, it was painfully and embarrassingly obvious.
The first ground session was brief. We completed the first section of the training manual, which included the exercises at the end of the chapter which I had previously worked through. That was it for Cirrus Day 1.
We planned to have our first training flight very early on Thursday morning. The plan was to return the plane to Chris by 8:30 so he could install the Bose ANR headset interfaces and the Reiff engine pre-heater.
Day 2: Thursday morning came and there was heavy fog downtown, but no problem at the airport. Ron & I took off at about 7AM for 1.3 hours of landings, steep turns and other VFR maneuvers. Basic aircraft familiarization. Transition from a 172 was mostly easy. The two hardest areas were becoming accustomed to the springs in the control yoke and the perception of a nose low landing attitude. Having over 800 hours in my 172 over 9 years, I have probably developed some quirks, which while they work great in the 172, don’t translate well into the SR22. Ron continued to show a great deal of patience. (Notice a trend here?)
We returned to the factory at 8:30, as promised, and gave Chris the plane for the remainder of the day. We completed all other ground lessons by lunch time and I had the rest of the day off for sightseeing in Duluth and shopping for Mother’s Day cards.
Friday, Day 3, started with a short wait for the plane as it was not ready until about 9:30. Duluth was VFR, but with about a 1,000’ ceiling. We filed IFR, climbed through the clouds, leveled off just at the tops and flew southwest towards Grand Rapids. En route, we picked up a bit of ice. With a very limited personal experience with this sort of thing, it seemed pretty strange to me. (Having lived in Florida for most of my flying life, icing was not a major concern.) The water drops on the wing just froze in place. They were lumpy, jagged pieces, not the coating of ice I had expected. With permission from ATC, we descended from 5,000 and then with the help of higher ambient temperatures and a few bumps, shook it all off in no time. I didn’t notice any significant performance differences, but with only about 1.5 hours in type, I’m probably not be the best judge of subtle changes. Overall the encounter was brief, uneventful and lastied only about 3-5 minutes. Once we found clear VFR skies, we cancelled the clearance, did a few more VFR maneuvers and then practiced a variety of landings and T/O’s at Aitken, MN
In the afternoon we worked with the GNS 430, Sandel and S-Tec 55x auto-pilot. Ron dumped it all on me at once, probably as the syllabus directs. I could barely keep my head above water. I don’t know if any of you are affected this way, but when overwhelmed, even the things I know fairly well become lost.
Once Ron slowed down and handed me one item at a time, I began to improve. I would have liked to have a bit more time to think over and absorb it, but we were already well behind our schedules. I had to return home on Saturday and Ron was scheduled to train a new buyer. My original plan was to stay for an extra day to practice instrument procedures, but things just didn’t work out. Neither cards nor the expensive jewelry I had already bought out of shame of spending so much money on myself would change the inevitable: I had to be home for Mother’s Day!
Our last approach and landing back at DLH was an ILS to a full stop, and we handled it well. Well, 1KM and her avionics suite performed terrifically, I was acceptable. Both Ron & I agreed that I needed a little more experience before I take 1KM into a real IFR approach. Now all I need is a CFII who is familiar with the GNS 430’s and S-Tec 55x.
The airplane: WOW! It really doesn’t suck! It is fast, handles fantastically and the performance meets or exceeds the POH. It has a ton of power, and if well controlled, this power can get you out of almost any situation (stalls, too steep a descent, etc.) very quickly. I suppose, the reverse is also true, but the plane is so easy to handle and has no bad handling characteristics that I’m sure any trained and careful pilot will have no problem. I don’t think, however, that I would recommend the SR22 for primary training.
The "B" model SR22 comes with twin Garmin GNS 430’s, the Sandel HIS, and the ARNAV screen. Overall there is a tremendous amount of capability and quite a bit of either redundancy or overkill, depending upon your perspective. For instance, I have counted four boxes in the panel that include timers and I would guess that represents at least 10 individual timers. For instance the clock/OAT gauge has at least two timers, the GNS 430’s have several each and the GTX 327 transponder has one as well. This makes it very easy to configure and use the plane as you feel most comfortable. In reality, there is virtually no incremental cost for the timers you won’t use.
The Sandel is another case and point. I’ve found that I am not using most of its capabilities. The Stormscope displays only through the ARNAV. (I haven’t seen a strike yet.) And coupled with the twin Garmin displays (I usually keep one 430 in nav/map mode and either toggle the second 430 between the flight plan page and the Nav/freq page on the other, or use its other features), there is no great need to use the map functions on the Sandel. So far, its range has been set at 5 NM and if you are not using the map or Stormscope features, there is really no need to change this. As I gain more experience, I will see if the Sandel’s map features assist in flying and monitoring approaches.
I may have said this once or twice before, but wow: this plane is powerful! A little power goes a long way. For example, on landing I am in the habit of adding a tiny bit of power right before the mains touch to make the landings really smooth. On the SR22, this equates to about 1000 feet of float. Maybe I’m just ham fisted on the throttle.
Ground handling (pushing/puling) will also take some getting used to. It’s heavy, but not too heavy to push and pull. The free castering nose gear, however, can be tough to handle when pushing it backwards. Once the nose wheel starts to turn, it really wants to turn. I may have to investigate a power tow or golf cart. A longer, beefier tow-bar would also be nice.
The plane is very comfortable and even on the three hour trip. Other than a desire to stand up and stretch, I had no issues. Ventilation is great, and I had to keep the eyeball vents mostly closed. When they are closed they don’t leak: this isn’t your father’s Cessna! Full open, they can produce a tremendous airflow.
The sun visors are next to worthless. They are quite stiff and I would guess that unless you are very careful, it will be very easy to break the Plexiglas. Since they don’t cover much, except the two overhead eyeball lights, they probably won’t get used much. Mr. Rosen, are you reading this? Until then, I will look for a couple of vinyl, slap-on types.
Cirrus has switched the material or manufacturing process for the top of the glare shield. The one in 1KM is not up to the task and is already beginning to sag. Cirrus is aware of this and they are working on a replacement. They’ve said that they will replace it under warranty.
There are a bunch of pockets including one each kick panel by the pilot’s & co-pilot’s outer ankles, one each on the back of the front seats and one each at the bottom front of the rear seats (right behind where the passengers’ heels would be). The pocket on the baggage door is great as well. However, I love pockets and would like a couple more nooks and crannies in the SR22 for pens, rulers (AOPA’s freebie ruler is great for cockpit use) and the like.
I find the electric rudder trim very useful (Sorry PJ for disagreeing on this one), but it is slo-o-o-o-ow. It is so bad, that I let my wife hold the button down while taxiing to get it into take-off position.
The front seats are great. Both my wife an I found them firm and very comfortable. I have a bad back and usually use a lumbar cushion. With these seats, I have found that I do not need any additional support. Both the top and bottom of the front seatbelts attach to the seat and not the floor. It is great to be able to tighten the seat belt before moving the seat forward. Do this in a 172, and, well, you’ll learn not to do it again. The shoulder belts have inertial locks so they don’t get in the way when you have to reach for something. Overall the 4-point harnesses are quickly forgotten once they are tightened. Cirrus really got this one right. My only complaint is that I keep hearing a crinkly sound as if there is a strip of old fashioned cellophane hidden somewhere in the bottom cushion.
The Trip Home: This is where the real fun starts! The trip home was wonderful. Severe clear for almost the entire trip. Just what was needed for my first solo flight in the new plane. I had planed to file an IFR flight plan using VOR’s and Victor Airways. Then once airborne and established on an airway, I’d ask for a "direct to" clearance to the next waypoint so I could get practice working with the 430’s. However, the thrill of ‘GPS direct’ took over and I filed that way.
The checklist is long and setting up the A/P takes a bit more time as well. Once I received my clearance, I input the numbers in the A/P and Altitude Pre-select. Upon receiving the take off clearance, I dialed the initial heading on the heading bug and started rolling. At about 700’ I hit the HDG, ALT and VS buttons on the A/P and sat back. Once cleared on course, I hit the NAV button twice to engage the GPS steering (GPSS) and waited until we leveled off to adjust the power. The A/P did the rest.
We leveled off at 8,000 with a TAS of 180 knots and a fuel flow of about 17 GPH @ 50 degrees rich of peak. CHT was comfortably low and according to the ARNAV database, we were either on or 1-2 knots better than book. Density altitude was about 7,500’. With a nice tailwind, ground speeds stayed above 200 knots the entire trip until late in the descent. Once the engine is broken in, I’ll start using the LOP method and see how that affects the performance.
ATC vectors were no problem for me, the A/P or 430’s. As ATC vectored me around to the west of Chicago and then west of Indianapolis, I first moved the heading bug to the desired course and hit the HDG button. Then I dialed in the intersection, hit ‘Direct-To’ ‘Enter’ ‘Enter’ on the #1 430 and then hit NAV twice on the A/P. The #2 430 received the flight plan change from the #1 automatically. Once cleared direct to Louisville (1KM’s new home), I repeated the process again. At one point I was cleared up to 9000’ and all it took was hitting a few buttons and twisting a knob on the Altitude Pre-select and the VS button on the A/P. 1KM did the rest. My job was to sit back, monitor the A/P, flight and engine instruments and watch the ground go by – fast! At 9000’ using the top 2500 RPM power setting (sorry, I don’t remember the MP) the TAS slowed down to 176/7 knots and fuel flow dropped a little as well. Tail winds were about the same and the ground speeds continued in the 199 - 205 knot range.
Only once did I even have to answer what type of plane I was. I attributed this to Walt, Jim, Paul and the other 150+ owners who have been flying their pants off. So I responded that the SR22 was a more powerful SR20. No reply. I guess Walt, Jim and Paul haven’t been flying much in the Midwest. So I tried, "310 HP, single engine, fixed gear, composite airplane, you know, the one with the parachute." To which I received an enthusiastic, "Oh Yea! Thanks."
Descent was equally easy. Dial in 2500’ and -700 fpm on the Altitude Pre-select, pull back the power slowly and hit VS on the A/P. 1KM took me down with EGT’s and CHT stable: no cowl flaps, no shock cooling. Pull up the freqs on the 430, load them, monitor the ATIS and wait for the handoff to local approach control. As we neared the airport, I continued to slowly pull the power back.
As local approach vectored me for a visual approach, I dialed in the heading with the heading bug and hit the HDG button on the A/P to follow their clearances. At about 7 miles out and just before 1KM leveled off at 2500’ under command of the A/P, I disconnected the A/P and decided to get a precious few minutes of stick time. We continued on down to pattern altitude and slowed down to 110 KIAS – ready for the first notch of flaps. I found no difficulty in slowing 1KM down, but I may have started the process sooner than pilots willing to fly 180 knots as they enter the pattern. Somehow slipping in behind a 152 at those speeds doesn’t thrill me. (Don’t tell Ian I said that. He is the Tim Taylor "more power/more speed" demon of Duluth ) Ron, that landing was my best yet!
I didn’t quite top off the tanks but I would guess that my overall fuel flow was less than 17 GPH. Cruising TAS averaged about 180 kts and the ground speed for the trip was more like 200 knots. Total time was about 3 hours and 8 minutes. The distance is 591 NM’s as the crow flies, and I’d guess ATC added on about 50 more miles for fun. Hmm, six and a half hours to get their on Delta and three to get back.
My biggest problem on the entire trip was the cabin service. It was horrible. I never saw the flight attendant and had to settle for the bottle of water I liberated from Cirrus. (Thanks Lisa)
After a quick trip to the facilities, posing for a few pictures and a kiss from my wife, I was well rested and ready to go again. After 3 hours in my 172, I’m ready for the a shower, the bar, the beach, or all three.
Cirrus Production Facilities: The factory tour was worth the entire trip. It was very informative to be able to look at the sub-assemblies and see how the various components work. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a few quick peeks while it is being assembled must be worth 100,000. Someone at Cirrus may hate this comment, but I’d strongly recommend that anyone buying a SR20 or ’22 should take delivery up there so that you can see the factory. Now if everyone takes me up on this advice, Cirrus may have to limit tours to once twice a week otherwise they’ll have to hire someone just for that task!
The plant was busy and planes were almost wall-to-wall. Every fuselage had a serial number on it and the ones nearing completion also had tail numbers. Sorry that I don’t recall any of the numbers but if this helps, I’d guess that they are nearing the 1 plane per day production rate. It seemed that 2-3 planes per day were flying off to, or returning from, Hibbing for paint. This may have been very deceiving as some of these flights may have been test flights.
My impression of the place was a combination of automated factory and a bunch of home-builders each with their own specialty. This is not meant to be negative, but it appeared that well over half of the floor space was dedicated to manufacturing composite parts or other subassemblies. My notion of what an assembly line is supposed to look like does not appear until the fuselages (built in Grand Forks, ND) are brought into the picture and all of the pre-assembled components are being installed therein.
Quality Control: From a purely personal perspective, I think they need to spend more effort on quality control. I have no concerns about the overall integrity of the completed aircraft, but the final fit and finish could be a bit better. Again from my perspective, it seems as though this is already in a state of improvement and each aircraft coming down the line is a little better than the one which preceded it. Overall, I think they are rushing to meet delivery schedules.
Related to that last point, they also need to ensure that the planes are ready to deliver when promised and that every thing works – even if this means completing the planes a day or 3 in advance. I don’t know where they would keep the completed airplanes as they really don’t have the room, but from a customer viewpoint, this would be an improvement. (Gee, it really is easier to sit and criticize than it is to build planes!)
Had I not been flexible in my scheduling, I think I would have been annoyed with the delays. On the other hand, my flexibility may have added to the delays as it appeared that the plane which followed mine was actually delivered first to suit that customer’s schedule (no sweat Mick) at my expense. My training was also delayed a bit as my instructor also worked with the previous plane’s owners beyond their scheduled departure date. Everyone at Cirrus was very nice about it. Chris and others really went above and beyond to ensure that all was ready for my trip back, but the whole process could have been smoother. My advice to anyone who is headed up there soon is to be flexible and plan a cushion in your schedule. If your plane needs an avionics squawk looked into, an other repair or if the weather is bad, you may need the time.
Customer Service: Everyone at Cirrus was great. Chris Dixon, who heads up the post delivery service shop is terrific and very busy. While I was there, at least 2 SR20’s came in for service, annuals I think. Also the SR20 which had the catastrophic engine failure was in the latter stages of repair. Apparently in its emergency landing it clipped two poles or road signs – one in each wing. Once the engine was replaced, Cirrus received a ferry permit and flew it back to the factory. That says a tremendous amount for the plane and its wings if both leading edges were severed and the plane is still flyable. I bet it wasn’t a fun flight. Anyway, the cowling and wings were repaired. (So was the engine mount and front landing gear if they needed work.) I feel a lot better about the repairability of composites and the robustness of the airframe after seeing this. I have no doubt that if my 172 had a similar experience, the wings would have been bent back just enough to pinch in the rear of the fuselage and make the entire plane a write-off.
Other stuff: Mike Bush spent a bit of time talking about the parachute and the ballistic system. One item which I had not thought about was the activation cable which runs from the T-handle located on the ceiling between the pilot and co-pilot around the left side of the rear window to the BRS system. If in an emergency a fire/rescue team tries to cut through the activation cable, or worse, uses a pry bar on it, it could be inadvertently activated. This is something that they need to become aware of.
Although the checklist calls for the CAPS pin to be removed before flight, I prefer to leave it in place with the flag emerging from the cover. It will still take only two motions to pull the T-handle. The first to pull the flag – the flag, pin and cover will all come off together - and the second to pull the handle. Having the pin in the T handle makes it a little less likely to loose it or have a passenger or maintenance worker inadvertently pull it.
Other tips and comments:
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