I love to be keep in the loop about the arnav news.But I must remind people who focus on what Cirrus is not doing to keep there eye on the ball and look at the big picture. I am sure all the options will come in time but I am sure the Cirrus market wants them to produce srxx as fast as they can. I think they are focusing on production rather than arnav,tcas,engine mon. As a 20 driver I would like nothing better than to have all these options,but I know that unless they keep there eye on the ball and make airplanes we will be whining about why they went b/k. About the comment about owning the plane for a year from Ian before you worry about options, I tend to agree, there are some things I would have bought but after owning the 20 for 7 months I think some things would been a waste of money. I.E. a/c,stormscope. Lets give them time and get the planes in the hands of the people who have waited so long. Just a thought,Ed
About the comment about owning the plane for a year from Ian before you worry about options, I tend to agree, there are some things I would have bought but after owning the 20 for 7 months I think some things would been a waste of money. I.E. a/c,stormscope.
Agree that ramping up production is priority #1, also priorities #2 through about #8.
Agree that use changes your sense of what features matter. I don’t have anything like a year’s experience with this. But on the basis of 80 hours I now think:
- The Arnav, for ALL its problems, is really very, very useful in the basic “where am I?” sense. Eg, when approaching an airport with a lot of runways at confusing angles, the Arnav display helps a lot in figuring out which runway is the one you’re looking for. Plus the ease of staying outside special-use airspace and so on. YES it has to get better, but it’s better than it first seems.
– I wouldn’t spent a penny for air conditioning in this plane. It can be hot on the ground, but you can deal with that by holding the door half-open for taxi. I have never been hot in the air – and this is with a fair amount of flying in hot conditions.
– By contrast, I would spend some money for a back-seat heater. The heating system is super-effective for the front seat but about 1/10th as powerful for the back. Temporary solution is to have a bunch of blankets back there.
– And I would spend some money on door-closing devices that seem more robust (ok, they would be heavier) and on back-seat seatbelts that are easier to prevent from riding up on the passenger’s chest.
Point is not a squawk list, it’s to say that some things wear better and worse on exposure (even the brief exposure I’ve had). Most important effect is to make my less hostile to ARNAV, which nonetheless wanting them to get all the necessary improvements in there pronto.
I love to be keep in the loop about the arnav news.But I must remind people who focus on what Cirrus is not doing to keep there eye on the ball and look at the big picture. I am sure all the options will come in time but I am sure the Cirrus market wants them to produce srxx as fast as they can. I think they are focusing on production rather than arnav,tcas,engine mon. As a 20 driver I would like nothing better than to have all these options,but I know that unless they keep there eye on the ball and make airplanes we will be whining about why they went b/k. About the comment about owning the plane for a year from Ian before you worry about options, I tend to agree, there are some things I would have bought but after owning the 20 for 7 months I think some things would been a waste of money. I.E. a/c,stormscope. Lets give them time and get the planes in the hands of the people who have waited so long. Just a thought,Ed
Ed:
Just curious as to why you thought, after having your plane for a while, that the stormscope would be a waste of money?
Brian
Point is not a squawk list, it’s to say that some things wear better and worse on exposure (even the brief exposure I’ve had). Most important effect is to make my less hostile to ARNAV, which nonetheless wanting them to get all the necessary improvements in there pronto.
Jim,
Your posts are clear, concise, and easy to read.
You should be a journalist! 
Mike.
PS - An observation: It seems to me that those who are most disappointed in ARNAV are also those who’ve had the highest expectations, for the longest time. Those of us who came to it later found it easier to like what was there, or to be more prepared to wait for the improvements to come. But then, we haven’t been reading and believing in all those promises for all that time…
Jim,
Your posts are clear, concise, and easy to read.
You should be a journalist!
Mike.
PS - An observation: It seems to me that those who are most disappointed in ARNAV are also those who’ve had the highest expectations, for the longest time. Those of us who came to it later found it easier to like what was there, or to be more prepared to wait for the improvements to come. But then, we haven’t been reading and believing in all those promises for all that time…
Mike,
I agree with your observation about Jim 100%
But, you know me I always have my $.05, I do think that Cirrus needs to focus on production but should have at least two guys working outside of production on improvements/updates/how can we do some of the things that all these test pilots out in the field are sugesting. Any company to stay #1 has to always keep an eye behind and improve their great product to stay in the lead.
I would grade Cirrus as 90. Any company that received 100 there must have been an error in the grading because even the best has room for improvement. Keep it up Cirrus. Have a great Cirrus day.
Woor
You’re very gracious, especially considering that this quoted part had several hasty typos (“my hostile” rather than “me hostile”, “which” rather than “while”), so thanks a lot.
On the journalist front, time to come out of the closet about this: http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/books/fre.html
Book will differ from what’s mentioned at that web site in a couple of ways. Subtitle will no longer be “Inventing the Future of Travel.” Now it’s “From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.” The book says quite a lot about Cirrus and the tradeoffs that went into the design of the SR20, and obviously that’s a picture of the Cirrus parachute tests on the cover. Also, I go at some length into the travails of raising money for start-up firms. But fundamentally the topic of the book is not the history of the Cirrus Design company. Instead it’s meant to be a history-of-technology and anatomy-of-innovation story, examining how technology in air transportation got so far out of balance and what it might mean to have advanced tech applied at the small plane level. The book starts out with the familiar “hobbyists versus civilians” distinction, although I’ve now changed the categories to “enthusiast” versus “civilian.” Also covers the NASA initiatives, and other companies including Eclipse.
Rush to the bookstores now! Or, in two months or so. jf .
(If I can figure out how to manage this with Clyde, I’ll ask him to post the Intro chapter in the “Stories” department of the site.)
Point is not a squawk list, it’s to say that some things wear better and worse on exposure (even the brief exposure I’ve had). Most important effect is to make my less hostile to ARNAV, which nonetheless wanting them to get all the necessary improvements in there pronto.
Jim,
Your posts are clear, concise, and easy to read.
You should be a journalist!
Mike.
On the journalist front, time to come out of the closet about this: http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/books/fre.html
Jim,
I wish you sales in the gazillions.
The cover looks great, but we know the author, so we don’t need to judge the book that way. I’ll be ordering mine as soon as it’s available.
Congrats…
Mike.
Jim,
Really looking forward to this. If Amazon will “carry” it, Clyde could post an Amazon affiliate link. Then SR20.org could collect a commission on each sale, and use the resulting fortune 
for new and wonderful things. I presume that the next best alternative is to buy it directly from Public Affairs Books?
On the journalist front, time to come out of the closet about this: http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/books/fre.html
Book will differ from what’s mentioned at that web site in a couple of ways. Subtitle will no longer be “Inventing the Future of Travel.” Now it’s “From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.” The book says quite a lot about Cirrus and the tradeoffs that went into the design of the SR20, and obviously that’s a picture of the Cirrus parachute tests on the cover. Also, I go at some length into the travails of raising money for start-up firms. But fundamentally the topic of the book is not the history of the Cirrus Design company. Instead it’s meant to be a history-of-technology and anatomy-of-innovation story, examining how technology in air transportation got so far out of balance and what it might mean to have advanced tech applied at the small plane level. The book starts out with the familiar “hobbyists versus civilians” distinction, although I’ve now changed the categories to “enthusiast” versus “civilian.” Also covers the NASA initiatives, and other companies including Eclipse.
Rush to the bookstores now! Or, in two months or so. jf .
(If I can figure out how to manage this with Clyde, I’ll ask him to post the Intro chapter in the “Stories” department of the site.)
Jim,
Sounds like a must read! Any way to get your book available in Europe or would it be back to boring Amazon?
HK from NL
You’re very gracious, especially considering that this quoted part had several hasty typos (“my hostile” rather than “me hostile”, “which” rather than “while”), so thanks a lot.
On the journalist front, time to come out of the closet about this: http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/books/fre.html
Book will differ from what’s mentioned at that web site in a couple of ways. Subtitle will no longer be “Inventing the Future of Travel.” Now it’s “From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.” The book says quite a lot about Cirrus and the tradeoffs that went into the design of the SR20, and obviously that’s a picture of the Cirrus parachute tests on the cover. Also, I go at some length into the travails of raising money for start-up firms. But fundamentally the topic of the book is not the history of the Cirrus Design company. Instead it’s meant to be a history-of-technology and anatomy-of-innovation story, examining how technology in air transportation got so far out of balance and what it might mean to have advanced tech applied at the small plane level. The book starts out with the familiar “hobbyists versus civilians” distinction, although I’ve now changed the categories to “enthusiast” versus “civilian.” Also covers the NASA initiatives, and other companies including Eclipse.
Rush to the bookstores now! Or, in two months or so. jf .
(If I can figure out how to manage this with Clyde, I’ll ask him to post the Intro chapter in the “Stories” department of the site.)
Point is not a squawk list, it’s to say that some things wear better and worse on exposure (even the brief exposure I’ve had). Most important effect is to make my less hostile to ARNAV, which nonetheless wanting them to get all the necessary improvements in there pronto.
Jim,
Your posts are clear, concise, and easy to read.
You should be a journalist!
Mike.
Jim,
Sounds like a must read! Any way to get your book available in Europe or would it be back to boring Amazon?
Thanks for your interest. I think a UK deal is underway, but that would presumably appear some time after the US publication in June. Don’t know what is involved in obtaining US-published books in Europe other than by Amazon.
Of course, if you want to arrange a Dutch language deal… (after all, I think the mighty Netherlands still have the highest Cirrus/person density of any nation, right?)
Ed:
Just curious as to why you thought, after having your plane for a while, that the stormscope would be a waste of money?
Brian
On the west coast the last time we saw thunder was 1912. We were interested because we thought we were going to be doing some big time cross country flying, but in the real world 95% of the time Dave or I never leave Ca.(Go figure). I have seen the nexrad and wxlink at the aopa and I believe that is the wave of what is to come.
As far as a/c the gull wing doors will cool you on the ground,dry your hair and cloths and blow out the cock pit. The doors open on taxi are great even in Az…ED
Ed:
Just curious as to why you thought, after having your plane for a while, that the stormscope would be a waste of money?
Brian
On the west coast the last time we saw thunder was 1912. We were interested because we thought we were going to be doing some big time cross country flying, but in the real world 95% of the time Dave or I never leave Ca.(Go figure). I have seen the nexrad and wxlink at the aopa and I believe that is the wave of what is to come.
As far as a/c the gull wing doors will cool you on the ground,dry your hair and cloths and blow out the cock pit. The doors open on taxi are great even in Az…ED
I had pretty much the same thoughts about the stormscope. We don’t get many thunderstorms in California; when we do, rarely are they embeded. I think nxrad and wxlink will be the way to go. Also, I think the ARNAV is a great help flying around Class B and other restricted airspaces.
Ed:
Just curious as to why you thought, after having your plane for a while, that the stormscope would be a waste of money?
Brian
On the west coast the last time we saw thunder was 1912. We were interested because we thought we were going to be doing some big time cross country flying, but in the real world 95% of the time Dave or I never leave Ca.(Go figure). I have seen the nexrad and wxlink at the aopa and I believe that is the wave of what is to come.
As far as a/c the gull wing doors will cool you on the ground,dry your hair and cloths and blow out the cock pit. The doors open on taxi are great even in Az…ED
I had pretty much the same thoughts about the stormscope. We don’t get many thunderstorms in California; when we do, rarely are they embeded. I think nxrad and wxlink will be the way to go. Also, I think the ARNAV is a great help flying around Class B and other restricted airspaces.
Wow, you guys on the west coast have it nice. In the east we get thunderstorms from March to November and many are embedded. So I will take your comments to mean that the stromscope is not something you guys need in california but it does work for everyone else.
As far as weather datalink is concerned, I look forward to having the datalink AND the stormscope. the datalink will show you where and how much rain there is and the stormscope will show you where the lightening and turbulence exist.
Not all heavy rain is turbulent or convective and not all light showers are free of convection. The stormscope will map out the worst areas to avoid.
Brian
This is another example of why there is no right or wrong way to equip an aircraft. How you use the aircraft determines what equipment is essential, what is useless and what’s nice but really not necessary.
J. Seckler SR22#69
Ed:
Just curious as to why you thought, after having your plane for a while, that the stormscope would be a waste of money?
Brian
On the west coast the last time we saw thunder was 1912. We were interested because we thought we were going to be doing some big time cross country flying, but in the real world 95% of the time Dave or I never leave Ca.(Go figure). I have seen the nexrad and wxlink at the aopa and I believe that is the wave of what is to come.
As far as a/c the gull wing doors will cool you on the ground,dry your hair and cloths and blow out the cock pit. The doors open on taxi are great even in Az…ED
I had pretty much the same thoughts about the stormscope. We don’t get many thunderstorms in California; when we do, rarely are they embeded. I think nxrad and wxlink will be the way to go. Also, I think the ARNAV is a great help flying around Class B and other restricted airspaces.
Wow, you guys on the west coast have it nice. In the east we get thunderstorms from March to November and many are embedded. So I will take your comments to mean that the stromscope is not something you guys need in california but it does work for everyone else.
As far as weather datalink is concerned, I look forward to having the datalink AND the stormscope. the datalink will show you where and how much rain there is and the stormscope will show you where the lightening and turbulence exist.
Not all heavy rain is turbulent or convective and not all light showers are free of convection. The stormscope will map out the worst areas to avoid.
Brian