R

rv6ejguy

Well Known Member
I was lucky enough to snag a back seat ride in a factory demo SR22 yesterday.
Impressions:

Nicely put together, nice interior, fairly quiet. Vibration levels similar to other certified engines. You are aware that this is a big engine with very soft engine mounts. Mounts do a pretty good job of not letting much vibration into cabin.

No prop control- all automatic. Nice touch, seems to work well.

Bose headphones- super clear- best intercom system I've ever used.

Taxiing is with differential braking like an RV so very agile.

The pilot flying seemed to adapt to the sidestick with no trouble. Used to flying big Piper singles.

Acceleration with 4 aboard was nothing close to my RV6A. Rotation at 70 knots. Climb about 1000 fpm. Nothing spectacular.

Ride in rough air very impressive- way better than my -6. Flexible wing seems to ride over the bump and absorb the shock before you feel it.

Roll rate seemed pretty good for such a long wing. Slow flight, 10 knots above the stall was no problem with really good roll response.

Speed- very impressive. Seeing nearly 180 knots TAS at 5500 at about 2450 rpm and 24 inches. LOP 174 knots. Fuel flow went from over 20 gph at best power to down around high 12s LOP.

I wasn't a fan of glass too much before this flight but can see the light now at least for IFR ops. This technology is a quantum leap. The Avidyne looks generally much easier to use and is far more intuitive than the G1000. The combined TCAS, terrain warning, NAV displayed and engine monitor was amazing. For VFR use I do see too much head down time though. TCAS assumes all traffic has a transponder- not a good assumption in many areas. For IFR, this is certainly the way to go over steam gauges.

Handling seems pretty viceless, there is no huge sink rate with power off. Our demo pilot did a very smooth landing (thanks Ivy). I don't understand how there are so many accidents with these airplanes with these flying qualities, the great situational awareness provided by the displays and ultimately the parachute if everything goes wrong.

Very nice. If I was a richer and just wanted a pre-built 4 seat, this would be near the top of my list. I didn't see anything that I really didn't like about it.

Tomorrow, I fly the CT.
 
I agree with pretty much everything you said there Ross. The 22 that I demo'd wasn't nearly as quality finished as you describe, however, but that was a couple of years ago. Maybe the interior fit and finish has improved. Cirrus was here about two weeks ago doing demo's from our facility, and I opted out of a demo since I had done it before.

They are VERY nice flying airplanes, I just wasn't impressed with the finish of the one I flew. The side yoke (it's not a stick like a Lancair ;) ) was EXTREMELY easy to adapt to.

Still WAAAAAAAAAAAAY TO MUCH MONEY FOR WHAT IT IS AND DOES... :rolleyes:
 
rv6ejguy said:
The combined TCAS, terrain warning, NAV displayed and engine monitor was amazing. For VFR use I do see too much head down time though. TCAS assumes all traffic has a transponder- not a good assumption in many areas. For IFR, this is certainly the way to go over steam gauges.
Click to expand...

I think the next generation of pilots will have these glass panels whipped in no time, and it won't be a case of too much head in the cockpit time. And, as test's have shown, these young new pilots starting with glass in training planes end up with a significant amount of hours ahead of the "steam guage" group from start to the end of the IFR rating! In other words, they know more, and require less hours to complete the ratings.

Old f-a-r-t-s have a tough time learning new tricks, and text messaging on a cell phone is a great example. The kids roll through the words as though it's a full size keyboard! I wouldn't know where to start... :D

I too, have flown in a fully equipped Cirrus SR22 demonstrator last year and generally have the same thoughts about the aircraft.

For some reason I prefer Garmin 1000's, and especially with the new keypads that come as equipment in the Columbia 400's. I think it's because I don't like the Garmin 430/530's which the Avidyne system uses as it's GPS hardware. And this is because the Garmin handhelds such as the 296, 396, and especially the 496 have much better resolution and color than the 430/530's.

But regardless, after having some flight experience with glass panels, color moving map GPS's, and two axis auto-pilots in RV's; I'm convinced that there is more time to explore the world...........outside the windscreen than previously.

I found that with heightened situational awareness, as in knowing exactly where you are; and with more time to look for features farther in the distance, and compare with a sectional; that VFR flight is just a whole lot better. I see hi-tech as a good thing! Especially satellite weather!

L.Adamson
RV6A -- steam guages. Two axis A/P connected to a Garmin 296. Would like "glass"!
 
cjensen said:
Still WAAAAAAAAAAAAY TO MUCH MONEY FOR WHAT IT IS AND DOES... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
The bigger problem is insurance costs. You'll get back most of the initial price of the plane on resale, but those insurance premiums are gone forever, and they are not low for a plane with an accident history like the Cirrus fleet has.
 
I just finished getting checked out in our local SR-22 (thank goodness my boss pays for all my flying!). Overall, I'm very impressed with everything about the plane. I have a couple hours behind a G-1000 C-182, but found the Avidyne to be much more to my liking. After making one simulated IFR flight, I'm sold! Definitely nicer to fly than the A36 Bonanza I've been racking up hours in recently. Has anybody flown a Columbia? Any idea what it has that makes is $200k better than the Cirrus?

Paul
RV-7 N143JL waiting for the prop
 
which columbia? you're not comparing the 400 to SR-22? they're quite different animals.. maybe can be compared to SR-22 TN... but then the costs are comparable?

I'd compare 300/350 to SR-22.. I don't think those are 200k more expensive?
 
I can see why the Cirrus sells so well (despite the price). There is really no comparison to this and current Cessna offerings IMO.

I'll stick by my current view that all this glass is not required for day VFR flight. Very nice yes, required no. For night VFR or IFR, I would spend the money for good glass stuff that was easy to use like the Avidyne in a heartbeat however.

All depends on your needs, likes and budget. I've got steam only for the RV10 besides the Bendix/ King Skymap IIIC moving map GPS. I've found these way easier to use than Garmin stuff and way more reliable. I just retired my maddening Garmin Pilot backup- total piece of junk. Glitches, big position errors and plain stupid to program. I do like their GTX 327 transponders and bought a second for the -10 so I'm not totally anti Garmin.

I'd second the views that pilots brought up on glass or the younger generation will catch on to using glass faster than us older folks. I work with PC and computer systems daily and I'm still slower with some of this stuff than some of the kids I see. I do see a big difference in the way certain systems are designed and laid out and Garmin isn't the easiest to learn IMO. You can of course learn to use almost anything but I appreciate thoughtful, straightforward engineering. I'm sure with some more time with the G1000, I'd know more about it as well. At this point though, Avidyne would be my first choice.

As far as the SR22 vs. the RV10 well, I'll have a few hundred K$ left in my bank account which should buy fuel for the next 10-20 years. I hope it performs as well in the speed department. I'm pretty sure T/O and climb will be quite superior but cruise is really where it is at for long trips. Nice to have a benchmark experience with state of the art production 4 seaters anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.