First Flight

Guest Discussion
1

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

What an easy to fly, responsive and yet fast single engine plane. In sports car terms, this thing turns on a dime. And despite what I’ve read here, the landings are pretty easy if you’re used to low wing aircraft.

I really like the left hand stick/yoke whatever they call it. Easy to learn, and once you use it for a while you wonder why other aircraft manufacturers don’t go this route.

Great avionics package with the Garmin 430’s and the Arnav. Autopilot is high quality and the cockpit layout has a great feel. The fit and finish are good in most respects but what the heck is with the door. Very difficult to close. Also, the center console also feels a bit on the flimsy side.

All and all an excellent aircraft.

2

So, uh, Nick, how much did they pay you for your first attempt at journalism?

Oh, we trust that you did thorough clearing turns before you made those “turn on a dime”, right?

And we’re so glad you’re used to low wing aircraft; we presume that means you have lots of time in F-16s.

That “whatever they call it” thingy on the left is referred to as a “side control yoke”, a point you may have missed in all that “research” you’ve been doing “…reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board…” and such.

By the way, perhaps you could issue an all points bulletin to let us know when you will be in the air flying any airplane. It’s safer that way, you know.

Good luck!

Frick & Frack

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

What an easy to fly, responsive and yet fast single engine plane. In sports car terms, this thing turns on a dime. And despite what I’ve read here, the landings are pretty easy if you’re used to low wing aircraft.

I really like the left hand stick/yoke whatever they call it. Easy to learn, and once you use it for a while you wonder why other aircraft manufacturers don’t go this route.

Great avionics package with the Garmin 430’s and the Arnav. Autopilot is high quality and the cockpit layout has a great feel. The fit and finish are good in most respects but what the heck is with the door. Very difficult to close. Also, the center console also feels a bit on the flimsy side.

All and all an excellent aircraft.

3

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

Alright, I’ll finally de-lurk. Great to hear about your flight, Nick! I recently had a very similar first SR20 flight. I wrote up the details and posted them in my learning-to-fly journal at:

http://watership.net/flight/#19may

Much of the descriptive stuff will already be familiar to this Cirrus-loving crowd, but at least you can read how flying an SR20 felt to a student who had just 38 hours of all-Cessna time. In short, I loved it! It’s definitely the aircraft I want to fly in the long run.

cheers,

Nolan

4

Glad that you enjoyed the flight. I for one think that the landings are a little difficult - my wife who consistently greases the landing would disagree with me. Your comment about being use to landing low wings may be true for you but not for me. Having flown two other low wings (modest hours) - Archer and Sundowner, I think that there is virtually no similarities in the landing between the Archer and SR20; however, there is between the Sundowner and the SR20 (the forward view “appears” more flat).

Closing the doors does cause problems. For my plane, some have tried to slam the door shut which makes me cringe. The best luck that I have had is to pull the door tight, press the handle to full open and then close. Soon after getting my check out, I took off without ensuring that my passenger who had recently hopped out had shut the door adequately. Sometimes the door can look clearly closed at the top but still show some space at the bottom. When I rotated the door popped open. Thankfully, it will not open too far. Although I kept my speed up a little, I noticed no difference in the performance as I flew the pattern and landing.

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

What an easy to fly, responsive and yet fast single engine plane. In sports car terms, this thing turns on a dime. And despite what I’ve read here, the landings are pretty easy if you’re used to low wing aircraft.

I really like the left hand stick/yoke whatever they call it. Easy to learn, and once you use it for a while you wonder why other aircraft manufacturers don’t go this route.

Great avionics package with the Garmin 430’s and the Arnav. Autopilot is high quality and the cockpit layout has a great feel. The fit and finish are good in most respects but what the heck is with the door. Very difficult to close. Also, the center console also feels a bit on the flimsy side.

All and all an excellent aircraft.

5

Nick -

On behalf of myself (and other forum participants, I suspect), I would like to apologize for the above post.

Just because someone is interested in a great airplane, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they have reasonable judgement - or even common courtesy. And, the post was anonymous - neve a good sign.

Sorry.

Bob

So, uh, Nick, how much did they pay you for your first attempt at journalism?

Oh, we trust that you did thorough clearing turns before you made those “turn on a dime”, right?

And we’re so glad you’re used to low wing aircraft; we presume that means you have lots of time in F-16s.

That “whatever they call it” thingy on the left is referred to as a “side control yoke”, a point you may have missed in all that “research” you’ve been doing “…reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board…” and such.

By the way, perhaps you could issue an all points bulletin to let us know when you will be in the air flying any airplane. It’s safer that way, you know.

Good luck!

Frick & Frack

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

What an easy to fly, responsive and yet fast single engine plane. In sports car terms, this thing turns on a dime. And despite what I’ve read here, the landings are pretty easy if you’re used to low wing aircraft.

I really like the left hand stick/yoke whatever they call it. Easy to learn, and once you use it for a while you wonder why other aircraft manufacturers don’t go this route.

Great avionics package with the Garmin 430’s and the Arnav. Autopilot is high quality and the cockpit layout has a great feel. The fit and finish are good in most respects but what the heck is with the door. Very difficult to close. Also, the center console also feels a bit on the flimsy side.

All and all an excellent aircraft.

6

So, uh, Nick, how much did they pay you for your first attempt at journalism?

Oh, we trust that you did thorough clearing turns before you made those “turn on a dime”, right?

And we’re so glad you’re used to low wing aircraft; we presume that means you have lots of time in F-16s.

That “whatever they call it” thingy on the left is referred to as a “side control yoke”, a point you may have missed in all that “research” you’ve been doing “…reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board…” and such.

By the way, perhaps you could issue an all points bulletin to let us know when you will be in the air flying any airplane. It’s safer that way, you know.

Good luck!

Frick & Frack

A little hypercritical today are we not. But with names like Frick & Frack I guess its to be expected, kind of like a boy named Sue as per Mr Cash.

Mike

Been doing research on the Cirrus, reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board obviously but today I had my first flight in the SR20.

What an easy to fly, responsive and yet fast single engine plane. In sports car terms, this thing turns on a dime. And despite what I’ve read here, the landings are pretty easy if you’re used to low wing aircraft.

I really like the left hand stick/yoke whatever they call it. Easy to learn, and once you use it for a while you wonder why other aircraft manufacturers don’t go this route.

Great avionics package with the Garmin 430’s and the Arnav. Autopilot is high quality and the cockpit layout has a great feel. The fit and finish are good in most respects but what the heck is with the door. Very difficult to close. Also, the center console also feels a bit on the flimsy side.

All and all an excellent aircraft.

7

Nick,
I really enjoyed reading your post - your first impressions reminded me of my own when I first read about, then later saw, and still later flew, the SR20.

Please pardon Frick & Frack’s manners (such as they are). Fortunately, he/she is not representative of the overall friendliness, interest or intellect on this Forum.

Please continue to post, and by all means, ignore the socially challenged.

  • Mike.
8

Frick & Frack

Just another asshole with a keyboard!

9

So, uh, Nick, how much did they pay you for your first attempt at journalism?

The pay is good but the hours are hell. How’s that Taco Bell assistant managership working out for you?

Oh, we trust that you did thorough clearing turns before you made those “turn on a dime”, right?

And we’re so glad you’re used to low wing aircraft; we presume that means you have lots of time in F-16s.

That “whatever they call it” thingy on the left is referred to as a “side control yoke”, a point you may have missed in all that “research” you’ve been doing “…reading the various articles and press releases, monitoring the board…” and such.

By the way, perhaps you could issue an all points bulletin to let us know when you will be in the air flying any airplane. It’s safer that way, you know.

Will do, and please let us know when you pull that stick out of your ass, or is it a yoke. Wanna be sure I get my terminology straight.

10

Hello Nick,
I agree with Mike, just keep having a good time and sharing with 99.9% of us. Thanks in advance and always remember to have a great Cirrus day.
Woor

Nick,

I really enjoyed reading your post - your first impressions reminded me of my own when I first read about, then later saw, and still later flew, the SR20.

Please pardon Frick & Frack’s manners (such as they are). Fortunately, he/she is not representative of the overall friendliness, interest or intellect on this Forum.

Please continue to post, and by all means, ignore the socially challenged.

  • Mike.
11

Frick & Frack

Just another asshole with a keyboard!

… or maybe two of them

12

Glad that you enjoyed the flight. I for one think that the landings are a little difficult - my wife who consistently greases the landing would disagree with me. Your comment about being use to landing low wings may be true for you but not for me. Having flown two other low wings (modest hours) - Archer and Sundowner, I think that there is virtually no similarities in the landing between the Archer and SR20; however, there is between the Sundowner and the SR20 (the forward view “appears” more flat).

The plane it most reminds me of is the Beech Duchess (I can hear thte F&F comments already, how can you compare a 20 year old retractable gear twin with a composite fixed gear single). The performance numbers are virually identical and the landing feels flat because the nose is out of your sight line. With the Piper products, which is where I have most of my hours, the nose is always in your line of sight. The Cirrus has much better visability than any other single I’ve flown. If your FBO has a Duchess around and you want some multi-engine training, fly it and see if they don’t compare.

Closing the doors does cause problems. For my plane, some have tried to slam the door shut which makes me cringe. The best luck that I have had is to pull the door tight, press the handle to full open and then close. Soon after getting my check out, I took off without ensuring that my passenger who had recently hopped out had shut the door adequately. Sometimes the door can look clearly closed at the top but still show some space at the bottom. When I rotated the door popped open. Thankfully, it will not open too far. Although I kept my speed up a little, I noticed no difference in the performance as I flew the pattern and landing.

The door on the plane I flew was so tight it took me three attempts to get it shut with the instructor giving me all the tips you mentioned. If the passenger door is that tight also, I’m not sure my wife could get it shut or worse still, get it open in the event of an emergency.