Draft Article re Cirrus Delivery Flight

Cirrus Line # 62 Delivery Flight

The Odyssey

Leaving Winslow, Arizona, bound for Ramona, California--somewhere over the Mojave Desert--we realized that the acquisition and delivery odyssey of our Cirrus SR20 was almost over. Two years in the making, this journey was going to be over all too soon!

We, Del Fadden and Peter Morton, started this process in 1998 when we flew a Cirrus SR20 prototype. The combination of great handling, roomy cockpit, modern avionics, and reasonable price well suited our needs. We concluded that the SR20 is a better value than the Columbia 300, or building a Europa XS, which we also considered. At the same time we were making our choices, our flying club--Wings Aloft in Seattle, WA—was in the market to update its fleet, separately decided that the SR20 is the plane to have.

The IFR certified "C" configuration SR20 we purchased comes with excellent avionics and a mechanical horizontal situation indicator (HSI), but we knew that recent innovations made a "glass" HSI affordable. We had seen the Sandel 3308 electronic HSI with its great graphics and integral RMI, and we could not get it out of our minds.

The 3-inch Sandel electronic HSI fits in the same panel space as the Century HSI it replaces and offers the ultimate in navigation flexibility and versatility. It integrates standard HSI functionality with the moving map Garmin 430 GPS’, the ARNAV multi function display, and serves as an additional display for Stormscope lightning returns. For the all-electric SR20, the Sandel electronic HSI is a perfect fit.

At Oshkosh AirVenture 2000, we discussed with Gerry Block, CEO of Sandel, and Alan Klapmeyer, CEO of Cirrus, the merits of making the Sandel 3308 EHSI a factory-installed option for the SR20--and the just-announced SR22. We offered our airplane as the platform for the FAA supplemental type certification (STC) process. After taking delivery, we were to fly our SR20 from the Cirrus factory in Duluth, Minnesota, to Ramona Avionics in Ramona, California, where the engineering, installation and STC of the Sandel SN3308 and Mid-Continent remote directional gyro would take place.

The Cirrus Factory Experience

We arrived at Cirrus on Monday, October 9^th, early in the morning. Ian Bentley from Sales, Sherri Reynolds from Contracts, and the delightful staff at the Cirrus front desk greeted us. When Cirrus reaches their planned production rate of more than one airplane per day, they will be hard pressed to equal the experience afforded us: our names were on the greeting board, a ceremonial exchanging of the keys and treatment as dignitaries in a factory tour. Then, there is that heady moment when we saw our own new airplane gleaming on the factory floor. The factory is bright and clean, and the folks who work in the delivery area are most anxious that each new owner be treated to a fine introduction to their airplane.

Wings Aloft develops and delivers training for new owners under contract to Cirrus. Our assigned instructor was Kara Kahler, whom we knew from her days flying with Wings in Puget Sound. Wings Aloft can also provide airplane delivery to and training at the owner’s location, but we wanted to take the training at the factory and make the delivery flight ourselves.

We had attended ground school for the SR20 in Seattle, so most of the time in Duluth was devoted to flying. Kara tailored the program to our specific needs, including day, night, instrument, and right seat instruction. We, Peter and Del, flew all the training flights together, with the non-flying pilot in the back seat, learning from the other’s experiences. Our objectives were simple: fly the airplane, learn to land it gracefully, and become familiar with the Garmin GPS' and the ARNAV MFD. We say, "become familiar", because proficiency requires additional experience: the fourteen hours we spent flying to Ramona made a big difference in our comfort with the details. Still we know that there is more to learn, as the final leg demonstrated.

Slam Dunk at Ramona

Level at 8000 feet over the Southern California Mountains we set up the Julian VOR/GPS-A approach into Ramona runway 27. Though the approach normally begins with a holding pattern, we were operating in visual meteorological conditions so SOCAL approach cleared us to make a straight-in approach. However, we failed to tell the Garmin GPS' of our intention to skip the hold, so they insisted on turning us around. There were some hurried moments in the cockpit before Del, who was flying, switched his attention from the programmed GPS approach to the #2 CDI with information supplied by the #2 Garmin (which we had prudently switched to VOR while setting up for the approach). The lesson here is that it will take experience to master the Cirrus navigation systems, particularly under pressure, though we feel that the Sandel unit will make it easier. With the electronic HSI installed, the options would have been: a) immediate reference to the #2 bearing pointer, or, b) switch guidance to the VOR, either of which keeps the pilot from having to switch attention to the #2 CDI.

The Delivery Flight Log

We trained Monday and Tuesday, October 9 and 10, then left Wednesday on the delivery flight: It was a glorious experience! We flew the following legs:

Wednesday afternoon, October 11, Duluth to Norfolk, NE
October 11, afternoon and early evening, Norfolk to Pueblo, CO for an overnight. If you ever go to Pueblo, let the Flower FBO take care of you; whether in a Cub, Cirrus or Citation, they treat you like royalty.
October 12, morning, attempted to cross the mountains against the weather, thought better of it and returned to Pueblo. More opportunity for royal treatment at Flower
Early morning, Friday, October 13, Pueblo to Winslow, AZ. The FBO is attached to the Port Java restaurant, where we learned why Winslow was the hub of early aviation in Arizona and why the students from Embry Riddle at Prescott stop there for lunch!
Friday, October 13, afternoon, Winslow to Ramona.

Swapping legs gave each of us about seven hours experience in each seat; and we chose to operate as a crew with the co pilot doing the navigation, checklist and communications duties. On top of our training hours, that gave us a chance to understand the airplane characteristics and pick the nits that exist in any new design; there are only a few, but they bear mentioning.

Cirrus Characteristics

Adaptation to the side yoke control is a non-event, and the control harmony of the airplane is outstanding. We both felt this is the best handling general aviation airplane we have flown.
The airplane detailing is superb. It feels like a luxury car inside, and the outside is smooth and sleek no matter how close you get to it.
Some little things you have to supervise when the FBO gets to the airplane; Cirrus wants them to ground for fueling from the spring that attaches to the exhaust pipe, rather than the pipe itself, to avoid future corrosion pits on the pipe.
Towing the airplane absolutely requires use of the tow bar; the free castering nose gear can get into trouble if you ever push the airplane backwards without the bar or use a powered tow bar that does not restrain the gear from turning.

This is perhaps the only airplane in the world that demands a public display of affection before every flight. The stall warning is triggered by suction from the stagnation point passing a small opening in the right wing leading edge. We heard that Cirrus is designing a special tool to apply that suction during preflight, but in the meantime, you get down on your knees, apply your lips, and give it a big kiss. If successful, you will hear a cheerful beep from the airplane cockpit (even with power off…the T&B indicator backup batteries provide the electricity). We briefly toyed with the idea of painting some lips around the stall warning hole.

Power from the 200 HP Continental is satisfactory. Getting up to 14,000 feet on Victor 83 over the Rockies took patience, and was challenging in the face of above-standard temperatures and mountain wave action, but we got the job done on the second try when the weather calmed down.

Seating comfort is very good, and outside visibility is outstanding. With two pilots aboard, the back seat is available for chart and beverage access. Peter, who is "vertically challenged", experienced great comfort relative to other airplanes he flies, like the Centurion, in being able to reach the controls and see out satisfactorily. This is the first general aviation airplane he has flown in which he could see out, and apply rudder and brakes at the same time during taxi. None of the instruments are obscured by glare shields or other visual obstacles, and the general panel layout serves very well.

The two cabin doors work well for access and also for hot day ventilation on the ground during taxi or "hold for clearance, please".

The baggage compartment door is big enough to stow any likely gear, though it could use a hold open device.

Learning to land the Cirrus correctly requires practice and concentration, especially for Cessna pilots. Kara drilled us on "getting the picture" right on final approach, and we heard her "not yet" comment frequently at the initiation of landing flare. At this point we seem (knock on wood) to be "getting it". Both Del and Peter wanted some right seat landings in preparation for future demos to pilot friends, and the picture out that window is quite different due to the unsymmetrical instrument panel shape. This also affects the picture for steep turns!

The airplane has been an honest 150+ knot performer for us so far, though we have had mostly turbulent, hotter-than-standard air. We are waiting for the nice cold stable air of the Pacific Northwest and a thoroughly broken-in engine to really check out the cruise performance.

Nits

(Putting this in perspective; the SR20 is a magnificent airplane, but even the best aircraft has some blemishes):

Light balance among the instruments during night flying needs attention. The clock is much too bright, and the Century horizontal situation indicator and MFD are brighter than they ought to be. The former doesn’t bother us because we are going to replace it with the Sandel! The engine instruments are dimmer than we would like, especially given the need to set manifold pressure and rpm with some precision.
The aforementioned emergency power system for the T&B uses three 9-volt batteries that are installed in a rather obscure location under the pilot’s instrument panel. Access is difficult, and the batteries, though they look and feel like normal Energizers, have an airplane part number and require log book entry at installation. The normal replacement cycle is every year, which is OK, but if someone accidentally moves the switch to power the instrument, replacement is required or IFR flight is not permitted. The switch really needs to be lockwired or somehow protected from inadvertent operation. Sure enough when we got in our airplane the switch was ON and we had to request replacement. (Cheerfully and quickly done, of course, and faithfully recorded in the airplane log book!)
The single lever engine control is a mixed blessing; its mechanical linkage creates a non-linear control of engine power that takes some getting used to.
The flap control system is good in concept, but the lever needs to be more robust. Although neither of us remembers pushing hard on the lever, the switch failed early in our training. A different colored light for the full (100%) extension position would allow easier discrimination of flap position at night.
We "brushed" (you choose the word; some that occur to us are "burnished", "finished", "knurled", "touched", "polished", etc.) the tail tie down bolt on a practice soft field takeoff. Of course this occurred on a hard surface runway. Had we been on a soft field we would only have gotten it dirty! We understand that tail strikes are not uncommon during training. If the airplane is to be used in a club environment, particularly for pilots used to the nose-high landing attitude of most Cessna’s, we think a spring steel skid such as the one installed on Wings Aloft’s Cessna 172s would be a nice feature.
Gross weight is a sticky subject on the SR20. The sales brochure still quotes 1950 pounds as a typical empty operating weight, and our "C" configuration airplane has an empty weight of 2102 pounds. With 2900 pounds max gross weight, this leaves a full fuel payload of only 460 pounds, and precludes four adults and bags even "fueled to the tabs". We understand that Cirrus is working on this problem co-incident with certifying the SR22; and have hopes that we will eventually see a 150 to 200 pound increase in useful load.

Because of our experience, this commentary may be more critical than most. We are retired Boeing engineers; together we have 70 years of experience in training, flight operations, avionics development, marketing, general management, airplane performance, human factors, and flight deck design. Del is a commercial pilot and former Air Force pilot with over 4000 jet transport hours, and Peter is a general aviation pilot with over 900 hours. While there are common elements in our work experience (we worked together on the design of the 757 flight deck), we bring different tools and understanding to each new situation. We have distinctly different learning styles. The Cirrus SR20 was our pick from the general aviation fleet after considerable research into the available alternatives. Nothing we have seen in the airplane or experienced in the purchase, delivery, and training would cause us to reconsider that decision. It is also nice that Cirrus executives seem to be willing to sit down and listen to us with patience and appreciation for input.

Our relationship with Sandel for the certification of the 3308 HSI gives us an opportunity to participate in the further improvement of the SR20. As this is written, we are one week away from the second "delivery flight" of the airplane from San Diego to Seattle, this time with the Sandal 3308 installed. So standby for more.