First, thanks in advance to help clear my question.
I am student pilot with 190 hours of ultra-light flown in Germany and Brazil, + 20 hours on the SR 22 and 45 hours on a Archer III in Florida. Next week I shall do my check ride and start the instrument course.
My mission would be visiting clients from Vancourver to Los Angeles and from Toronto to Florida.
For pleasure I intend to fly to Brazil a couple of times.
Since I am still far away from the necessary hours to do all that in safety what would be the best option?
buy a used sr20 and build time and confidence or go forward direct to the sr22, since I can imagine the sr20 will not be capable of doing all the above. Or is it not realistic even for the SR 22?
Thanks for the comments
Homero
Homero,
This is a question that has often been debated here. The SEARCH function might yield some interesting results.
The most intelligent dialog on this topic is on the Members Discussion forum; but of course to access that, you need COPA membership. I recommend it if you find the idea interesting - the COPA membership is among the most fascinating groups of people I’ve had the pleasure to know. And most members would agree that it makes little sense to seriously contemplate Cirrus ownership without drinking from the fountain of knowledge at the Members Forum.
For me, though, the bottom line is that for some people, it’s a really bad idea to learn in a Cirrus; for others, it makes perfect sense. My opinion is that those for whom the Cirrus is a really bad idea are also those for whom flying is a bad idea. Put differently… if you have the necessary attributes (intelligence, good judgment, etc.) to fly safely in anything, you can learn safely in a Cirrus.
If you haven’t read the book “The Killing Zone”, by Paul A. Graig, I recommend that, too. I don’t agree with all the author’s premises, but the statistics are compelling and eye-opening; and, you’re right in the middle of The Killing Zone right now. Pilots with 50 - 350 hours of total time are in a dangerous place, statistically.
Whatever you decide - good luck! Your mission, and your territory, will provide fascinating and challenging learning opportunities. I wish you safe passage.
Homero,
This is a question that has often been debated here. The SEARCH function might yield some interesting results.
The most intelligent dialog on this topic is on the Members Discussion forum; but of course to access that, you need COPA membership. I recommend it if you find the idea interesting - the COPA membership is among the most fascinating groups of people I’ve had the pleasure to know. And most members would agree that it makes little sense to seriously contemplate Cirrus ownership without drinking from the fountain of knowledge at the Members Forum.
For me, though, the bottom line is that for some people, it’s a really bad idea to learn in a Cirrus; for others, it makes perfect sense. My opinion is that those for whom the Cirrus is a really bad idea are also those for whom flying is a bad idea. Put differently… if you have the necessary attributes (intelligence, good judgment, etc.) to fly safely in anything, you can learn safely in a Cirrus.
If you haven’t read the book “The Killing Zone”, by Paul A. Graig, I recommend that, too. I don’t agree with all the author’s premises, but the statistics are compelling and eye-opening; and, you’re right in the middle of The Killing Zone right now. Pilots with 50 - 350 hours of total time are in a dangerous place, statistically.
Whatever you decide - good luck! Your mission, and your territory, will provide fascinating and challenging learning opportunities. I wish you safe passage.
Mike.
Mike,
Thanks for the reply. I did read the killing zone already and agree that most of the accidents could have been avoided using common sense.
I will definitively become a member still today of COPA.
My instructor tells me that I fly the SR 22 pretty well and I never felt intimidated with it , even comparing the SR 22 with my flying with the Archer.
But I am in doubt: Did I understand correctly that it would be better to build hours in other airplane type? Maybe I did not express myself correctly: My question is between the 20 or the 22, specially because I am in the middle of the killing zone, the CAPS makes much more sense.
I will keep researching the members forum.
Thanks for your kind words.
Homero
Maybe I did not express myself correctly: My question is between the 20 or the 22, specially because I am in the middle of the killing zone, the CAPS makes much more sense.
I will keep researching the members forum.
Thanks for your kind words.
Homero
Homero,
Actually, you expressed yourself very well. Your question is the subject of a LOT of debate - you’ll find plenty to read on the Forum.
My personal opinion is that if you can afford the 22 financially, it makes more sense than the '20. That’s because there are many situations in which the SR22 provides an additional safety margin - for instance, high density-altitude operations, or inadvertent icing encounters; the '22 simply gets you to a safe altitude quicker on departure because of its significant extra power. The difference in low speed handling between the SR20 and SR22 is negligible, and of course, it’s easy enough to fly the SR22 at SR20 speeds in the cruise. However, I hasten to add that there are many who hold opposing views… as you’ll find when you catch up on the forum!
For the record, I owned an SR20 for 2 1/2 years and about 1,000 hours; I now fly an SR22 (about 200 hours).
Homero,
Actually, you expressed yourself very well. Your question is the subject of a LOT of debate - you’ll find plenty to read on the Forum.
My personal opinion is that if you can afford the 22 financially, it makes more sense than the '20. That’s because there are many situations in which the SR22 provides an additional safety margin - for instance, high density-altitude operations, or inadvertent icing encounters; the '22 simply gets you to a safe altitude quicker on departure because of its significant extra power. The difference in low speed handling between the SR20 and SR22 is negligible, and of course, it’s easy enough to fly the SR22 at SR20 speeds in the cruise. However, I hasten to add that there are many who hold opposing views… as you’ll find when you catch up on the forum!
For the record, I owned an SR20 for 2 1/2 years and about 1,000 hours; I now fly an SR22 (about 200 hours).
Good luck with your decision.
Mike.
Mike,
I am now a happy member of the COPA family and will read it all. You were right. It is all there.
Thanks again
Homero
PS: do you know anyone who had a long trip like the one I am planning ( Miami to Rio de janeiro and back) that I can contact direct?
Homero;
Feel free to give me a call on this subject.
In short, try taking 1 long trip of say, 8 hours and see how you feel. So much of a long trip is a factor of mind set, age, mental acuity, and bladder.
Mike,
I am now a happy member of the COPA family and will read it all. You were right. It is all there.
Homero,
Welcome aboard! Glad to have you. If you regret your decision to join, I’ll refund your money out of my own pocket - and that’s among the safest bets I’ve made. And I speak as a new native of Las Vegas! [;)]
In reply to:
Do you know anyone who had a long trip like the one I am planning ( Miami to Rio de janeiro and back) that I can contact direct?
Many of our members fly long trips - in fact, the Cirrus almost BEGS to be flown that way. I have flown the USA coast-to-coast at least half a dozen times. But for the REAL “Loneliness of the Long Distance Pilot” views, you might try those who have flown a Cirrus over the Big Pond - Curt Sanford comes to mind, since he recently completed a round trip from his home in San Francisco to various points in Europe. You may have seen this photo of Curt with N803EM at Kulusuk International Airport, on our main COPA page.
Dennis,
Thanks for the offer. I do intend to make such long trial trips as soon as I have my PPL. It would be very foolish to make a $ 400K mistake. I find 3 hours cross country very stressful, but maybe because all is so new ( 65 hours). Being a Brazilian, learned to fly in German and now have to re learn everything back again in english is very intimidating and with 50 you do not assimilate it as quick as when we were 20 but the adventure drive is bigger than the overwhelming stress. I will keep studying and learning .
Thanks for the support.
Homero
Dennis,
Thanks for the offer. I do intend to make such long trial trips as soon as I have my PPL. It would be very foolish to make a $ 400K mistake. I find 3 hours cross country very stressful, but maybe because all is so new ( 65 hours). Being a Brazilian, learned to fly in German and now have to re learn everything back again in english is very intimidating and with 50 you do not assimilate it as quick as when we were 20 but the adventure drive is bigger than the overwhelming stress. I will keep studying and learning .
Thanks for the support.
Homero
And please keep in mind that Brazil is not Miami or even Germany. Going down in the Pantenal is maybe a bit worse that going down in the Everglades. I hear they have Anacondas and Aligators there.
My friend,
I will pass far away from Pantanal and if I have to go down, will be over the girl from Ipanema and not the aligator from swampland. It will be along the coast.
Homero
Welcome to the club! [:)] I still run into (well, not literally) Cirrus pilots who aren’t COPA members and just have no idea how true your statement is. Although it would be hard to swallow, even $500.00 per year would be “cheap” by your definition. A large percentage of us have saved hundreds and even thousands of dollars on our flying as a result of what we have learned in the forums available to members.
Homero,
Welcome to the club! I still run into (well, not literally) Cirrus pilots who aren’t COPA members and just have no idea how true your statement is. Although it would be hard to swallow, even $500.00 per year would be “cheap” by your definition. A large percentage of us have saved hundreds and even thousands of dollars on our flying as a result of what we have learned in the forums available to members.
Andy,
For someone starting like me ( < 70hours) it is not only a matter of saving money, but save my life. I read somewhere that aviation rules were written with blood and could not agree more. It is a great forum and I intend to read as much as I can to learn from all the others with thousands of hours of experience.
Thanks for the welcome wishes.
For someone starting like me ( < 70hours) it is not only a matter of saving money, but save my life.
Homero,
In my last post on this thread, I honestly sat for a minute deciding whether to bring up the huge safety (besides monetary) benefits in assimilating the knowledge gained from and experiences had through COPA membership. I decided not to since it is talked about on a fairly regular basis, and I didn’t want to sound “preachy.” I leave that to our great president Mike Radomsky. [;)] However, I agree 100% that COPA has the potential to be a literal life-saver for some pilots (maybe even myself, who knows).
In reply to:
It is a great forum and I intend to read as much as I can to learn from all the others with thousands of hours of experience.
I decided not to since it is talked about on a fairly regular basis, and I didn’t want to sound “preachy.” I leave that to our great president Mike Radomsky. [;)]
Andy,
I hope you mean that [;)] - I try hard not to preach, especially because I have so little room to… so, if this is a “true word spoken in jest”, please let me know; I’ll try harder!
Mike,
I was completely kidding, really. However, I just looked up the word to find out what I meant. [:$] The definition I found for “preachy” was “giving, or in the habit of giving, advice on morals or behavior, especially in an irritatingly tedious or overbearing way.” While you administer plenty of good pilot-behavior advice (notice I left out good general advice [;)][;)]), I donÂ’t believe that any of us find you “irritatingly tedious or overbearing.” [:D]
Actually part of my wink was that, if you look at some of my past posts, I come across very “preachy” sometimes (pot calling kettle…), and the other part was just a classic good-natured cheap shot.
I wouldn’t change anything about the way you or any of the regular forum participants post, and I think the true (no fun intended) descriptive word for your posts would be “educational.” Safety is a damn important subject, and it needs to be talked about consistently to keep it fresh in our minds.
Anyway, before I get preachy, I have some gay puppy research to do.
