Just wondering if anyone has experience flying with 4 adults (pilot included) and a 60 pound dog?
I’m interested in a new Cirrus but the wife wants to be able to bring everyone…
Thanks in advance…
Mark
Well…how far are you going? In a G5 you have between 1150 and 1230 (approx.) of fuel and people that it’ll carry. The plane won’t care which of those creates the weight, until the fuel portion goes away.
Welcome to the site…lots of good info here!
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Mark:
It is all about weight; not numbers. How much do the 4 adults weigh? What is the length of your average trip which determines how much fuel you need. The SR22 is a great full fuel 3 person airplane. But if the people are heavy and you need to go far, full fuel and 4 people will not make the weight limit.
The G#3, G5 and G6 airplanes can carry 92 gallons of gas. At the typical fuel burns that can carry you pretty far in distance. The empty weights are in the 2400 pound range and the maximum gross weight of a G5/G6 is 3600 pounds. For a G1,G2 or G3 MGW is 3400. Just do the math and your will get your own answer using 6 pounds/gallon for fuel weight.
I cannot improve on the advice you’ve been given already, so from my experience:
I fly a G5, same weight limits. 4 normal adults in warmer weather, and I’m leaving fuel on the ground. You can add the dog, but it is going to limit your range and/or runway length.
Still do-able, just not maximum everything. My wife and I love flying, but cannot currently take our dogs very far. We have about 210 lbs. worth!
Thank you all for the quick responses.
Assuming we are within the weight and balance, I’m more wondering about the actual physical ability to fit 2 adults and a dog in the back seat.
My family kids are young women so not very large…
Just wondering if anyone has tried this.
Thanks
Mark
You can do it. It won’t be comfortable.
With the right plane, useful load may allow it, but space will be at a premium. I have flown my family - (4 people, 5’ 9” to 6’ 0” and 115lbs to 175lbs), and weekend bags in a Cirrus. I cannot imagine finding room for a 60lb dog and gear. At least not comfortably.
YMMV, though, so I’d recommend finding a plane to “try on”.
I have a 65-pound Golden Retriever. It would be quite uncomfortable to fit him between two adults in the back. You could lower the seats and put the dog in the baggage compartment, as it’s open to the cabin, SUV style.
I assumed as much but wanted to check. Thanks for all the information…
Now just need to figure our which daughter doesn’t get to come along!
Mark
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You can plug your pax and dog into Cirrus Pro Flight and see how it would work out on your airplane. Then you’ll see how much fuel you can carry and how it will balance out.
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Welcome to COPA, Mark!
As others have stated, a dog with four is going to be too tight. I fly with my wife and two boys (15 year olds) and we can comfortably make trips as far as Florida to California which we do for an annual industry convention each year. To stay with W&B limitations, we are very limited on fuel which allows for approximately 2 hours of flight time with an hour of reserve fuel upon landing (my personal minimum). This means a lot more stops, but I’ve found they’re typically ready to stretch their legs and get out for a few minutes by about that point regardless.
One caveat, with that kind of passenger load, don’t plan on taking much in the way of luggage. We’ll bring a small overnight bag and that’s it. Everything else gets UPS’d to the destination FBO. While this sounds like a pain, it actually is quite nice not to have to load/unload the plane, we arrive at the FBO and 9/10 times they’ve already loaded the bags into the rental car waiting for us.
I used to ship bags directly to the hotel, then places like the JW Marriott started outsourcing their receiving ops to Fedex - and would charge MORE than the cost of shipping from FL to CA just to receive the bags at the hotel. I’m way to cheap to spend $250+ for a few suitcases to be “signed for” (not even delivered to the room) at the Fedex office location in the hotel. Hence, I just ship them to the FBO and drop them back there at the end of the trip with a call tag for UPS to pick them up - super easy!
Again, welcome to the forums, I’m sure you’ll find some great people here who are always happy to share their collective flying knowledge.
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I’m going to go out on a limb and say wrong plane unfortunately. That’s if it’s really going to be 4 people plus a dog. Sometimes we think more people are going to fly with us than ends up being the case.
My wife and I fly regularly with a 90 lbs golden retriever. I came back last week with dog, wife, daughter, and fuel to the tabs (60 gal) and had a little to spare but not much.
I would not put Kevin (dog) in the back seat. We put her in the luggage hold and my wife sits in the back seat and reaches over to pet her from time to time. It is easy to get her in through the baggage door and I don’t have to worry about scratching a wing or tearing leather. We have also laid down the back seat on the first few flights when she was more nervous.
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Great information and a beautiful family. Thanks the the data and sharing the photo.
Mark
With 4 average adults on board I can put in 50 gallons of fuel, which is “to the tabs” (47 gallons are the tabs, to be precise).
The way I fly my SR22 that’s 3 hours of endurance VFR plus a good reserve.
That’s with 20 lbs in the baggage compartment (accessories, oil, towbar, jackets, small backpack) and the full TKS tank.
(SR22-G2 with empty weight of 2406 lb)
And Pat is about 6’8” himself.
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Weight aside the 60 lb dog needs a seat for themselves. That would be a very uncomfortable ride for those in the back.
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Welcome to COPA. 2 bits of advice for this situation.1) People will tell you how much they weigh naked, not with their clothes, handbag, computer bag, “coronavirus quarantine 10# extra” etc. 2) Get a good electronic bathroom scale for your hangar and insist on weighing everything that goes in the plane.
Then do a full W&B on Foreflight or whatever whenever it’s marginal , like this situation.
Mike
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Oh and there’s that too… I tried to convince @mauiplt I was the tallest in the Cirrus fleet but he wasn’t buying it. He said there were taller AND better looking! Oh well. 
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