I have recently been checked out in the SR20 at Wings Aloft in Seattle. The plane and the instruction have been great. My question is that the four planes there seem to be down alot for maintenance. I understand that the SR20 is a new platform and some growing pains are to be expected. Having never owned a plane I do not have a good base line. Those of you who are owners, have your expectations been met with respect to the SR20 reliability? As a follow-up have there been any issues in getting reimbursed from Cirrus Design for the warranty costs?
I have recently been checked out in the SR20 at Wings Aloft in Seattle. The plane and the instruction have been great. My question is that the four planes there seem to be down alot for maintenance. I understand that the SR20 is a new platform and some growing pains are to be expected. Having never owned a plane I do not have a good base line. Those of you who are owners, have your expectations been met with respect to the SR20 reliability? As a follow-up have there been any issues in getting reimbursed from Cirrus Design for the warranty costs?
My plane has spent 47 minutes in maintenance for every hour it has flown. I haven’t received any reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not what I expected.
I have recently been checked out in the SR20 at Wings Aloft in Seattle. The plane and the instruction have been great. My question is that the four planes there seem to be down alot for maintenance. I understand that the SR20 is a new platform and some growing pains are to be expected. Having never owned a plane I do not have a good base line. Those of you who are owners, have your expectations been met with respect to the SR20 reliability? As a follow-up have there been any issues in getting reimbursed from Cirrus Design for the warranty costs?
My plane has spent 47 minutes in maintenance for every hour it has flown. I haven’t received any reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not what I expected.
What problems have you had fom don
My plane has spent 47 minutes in maintenance for every hour it has flown. I haven’t received any reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not what I expected.
For what it’s worth, the only maintenance I’ve had is the nicked-stab inspection, which took all of a half hour, and a couple of oil changes. 100 hours on the Hobbs.
I have recently been checked out in the SR20 at Wings Aloft in Seattle. The plane and the instruction have been great. My question is that the four planes there seem to be down alot for maintenance. I understand that the SR20 is a new platform and some growing pains are to be expected. Having never owned a plane I do not have a good base line. Those of you who are owners, have your expectations been met with respect to the SR20 reliability? As a follow-up have there been any issues in getting reimbursed from Cirrus Design for the warranty costs?
My plane has spent 47 minutes in maintenance for every hour it has flown. I haven’t received any reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not what I expected.
What problems have you had fom don
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Manifold pressure guage inop.
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Landing light burnt out
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Bad plug.
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Injector fouled.
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Vacumm pump inop.
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Manifold pressure guage inop.
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Nav light burnt out.
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Transponder inop.
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Primary vacuum low.
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Throttle spring broken.
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Bad vacuum gauge.
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Adjusted vacuum regulator.
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Flap down indicator adjustmant.
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Broken wire CHT sending unit.
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Broken throttle spring (again).
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Replaced vacuum manifold.
And, the plane is down today for autopilot problems and the altitude encoder indicating 300’ off.
And you’re saying Cirrus hasn’t done this work under warranty?
What problems have you had fom don
- Manifold pressure guage inop.
- Landing light burnt out
- Bad plug.
- Injector fouled.
- Vacumm pump inop.
- Manifold pressure guage inop.
- Nav light burnt out.
- Transponder inop.
- Primary vacuum low.
- Throttle spring broken.
- Bad vacuum gauge.
- Adjusted vacuum regulator.
- Flap down indicator adjustmant.
- Broken wire CHT sending unit.
- Broken throttle spring (again).
- Replaced vacuum manifold.
And, the plane is down today for autopilot problems and the altitude encoder indicating 300’ off.
Craig and Dave,
Since you have such different maintenance experiences could you suggest reasons. For example: what are your delivery positions (are they getting better or worse with time)and where are each of you based (are you getting the same service support)? I echo Derek’s follow-up question about reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not an idle question for me since I am about to purchase an existing contract on a SR20.
Thanks,
Tom
And you’re saying Cirrus hasn’t done this work under warranty?
What problems have you had fom don
- Manifold pressure guage inop.
- Landing light burnt out
- Bad plug.
- Injector fouled.
- Vacumm pump inop.
- Manifold pressure guage inop.
- Nav light burnt out.
- Transponder inop.
- Primary vacuum low.
- Throttle spring broken.
- Bad vacuum gauge.
- Adjusted vacuum regulator.
- Flap down indicator adjustmant.
- Broken wire CHT sending unit.
- Broken throttle spring (again).
- Replaced vacuum manifold.
And, the plane is down today for autopilot problems and the altitude encoder indicating 300’ off.
Craig and Dave,
Since you have such different maintenance experiences could you suggest reasons. For example: what are your delivery positions (are they getting better or worse with time)and where are each of you based (are you getting the same service support)? I echo Derek’s follow-up question about reimbursement from Cirrus. This is not an idle question for me since I am about to purchase an existing contract on a SR20.
Thanks,
Tom
Tom,
You didn’t ask me, but I figured I’d chime in anyway. I’ve had my SR20 for exactly a month and a day (i.e. not very long) but I am very impressed with Cirrus customer service. Here’s what I’ve had happen to me so far, and the results:
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CHT gauge bad while still at the factory in Duluth. Even though it was a Saturday, a Cirrus A&P came in from home, with Mike Busch, to replace the CHT gauge. We took a quick flight and it seemed to work, so they went home. Took another longer flight and the CHT gauge started acting up again, and for the second time on a Saturday somebody came from home to fix the plane, replacing the CHT probe in the engine this time. No problems since.
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Landing light burned out by the time I had come home from the factory. I complained to Cirrus, even though I didn’t think they’d do anything about it – after all, lights are NOT a warranty item. But I sent in my burned out light, and received a new light from CD within a week. I believe they are sending the burned out light back to the manufacturer because it died so quickly.
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Glideslope needle on the Century HSI stopped working. Obviously this is not Cirrus’s fault; it worked when I picked it up, and died sometime later. I brought it into a local Century avionics shop; even though they were NOT a Cirrus service center, Cirrus, Century, and the avionics shop coordinated everything smoothly. In under 72 hours, the HSI was removed, shipped overnight to Century, fixed, sent overnight back to the avionics shop, and re-installed. All with no paperwork hassles or any money that I had to come up with. (This was done at Harrisburg Jet Center at CXY - very good service).
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On the pilot’s side, trailing edge of the very inboard section of the wing is sort of separating for about 3-4 inches. Looks like they just need to put a little more glue in. Took it to the Cirrus service center; they sent digital pictures to the factory, a fix has been developed, and the necessary materials are being sent to the local service center as I write this. I should be able to bring it back to the service center for repairs (free of course) later this week - about 10 days after first bringing this problem to their attention. Local Cirrus service center for me is Dulles Aviation at HEF, again had good service there.
In every case, Cirrus has been there when we’ve had these problems. Obviously in an ideal world these problems wouldn’t come up at all, but given that they did – and several of them are NOT Cirrus’s fault (CHT, HSI…) in the first place --Cirrus has been there to provide support and get me going as fast as possible.
Steve
My broken-parts experience, over 2 months and 65 hours, has been:
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One of the NAV lights didn’t work when I picked up the plane. They fixed it at the factory.
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#2 Alternator failed almost immediately, on trip home from factory. Was replaced quickly and at no charge at Top Gun aviation in Stockton. I gather there was a problem with the Alt supplier to Continental.
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The “slaving” device for the HSI still doesn’t work right. If put on “slave” it consistently drifts off about 10 degrees. TopGun couldn’t devise a feasible fix; some time I’ll get it fixed at the factory. I just leave it on “free” mode and reset every 15 minutes or so, as with a normal DG.
That’s it. No problems with landing light, auto pilots, flap relay, engine, CHT, Garmins, transponder, or anything else. Knock wood.
- Glideslope needle on the Century HSI stopped working. Obviously this is not Cirrus’s fault; it worked when I picked it up, and died sometime later.
If you have two Garmin 430’s and an HSI, is there a backup glideslope indicator on the panel? Or, are you out-of-luck for the glideslope if the HSI goes out?
My maintenance experience experience in 5 weeks and 30 hours has been:
Electric HSI replaced due to bad glide slope indicator. Cirrus Fedexed a new one to Tim McCandless Avionics in Waterloo, Iowa the day I reported it bad. The avionics shop swapped it out the next day. Cost to me: zero
The fairing around the nose wheel strut was contacting the fairing around the wheel itself when turned past 20 degrees either direction. The Cirrus Service Center in Decorah, Iowa fixed it in about 20 minutes, again at no cost to me.
That’s it so far. I have been extremely pleased with the response from Cirrus whenever I cal them. The A&P in Decorah commented to me that even with a few bugs, the quality control level at Cirrus is far ahead of that at Cessna.
Stuart
My broken-parts experience, over 2 months and 65 hours, has been:
- One of the NAV lights didn’t work when I picked up the plane. They fixed it at the factory.
- #2 Alternator failed almost immediately, on trip home from factory. Was replaced quickly and at no charge at Top Gun aviation in Stockton. I gather there was a problem with the Alt supplier to Continental.
- The “slaving” device for the HSI still doesn’t work right. If put on “slave” it consistently drifts off about 10 degrees. TopGun couldn’t devise a feasible fix; some time I’ll get it fixed at the factory. I just leave it on “free” mode and reset every 15 minutes or so, as with a normal DG.
That’s it. No problems with landing light, auto pilots, flap relay, engine, CHT, Garmins, transponder, or anything else. Knock wood.
Jim:
There seems to be quite a lot of problems with the HSI. Lots of reported “early failures”. Is your’s the electric version in the “C” or the vacuum version in the “B”?
Brian
There seems to be quite a lot of problems with the HSI. Lots of reported “early failures”. Is your’s the electric version in the “C” or the vacuum version in the “B”?
Brian
It’s an Electric-C model.
As far as I can tell, the HSI itself works great. The problem is in the setting of the flux gate, or whatever it’s called, that is supposed to keep determining the “real” magnetic heading to offset gyroscopic precession. It has a consistent bias of about 10 degrees – if the wet compass shows 270, the HSI when “slaved” will show 260.
I gather that this involves exactly where the detector is installed, how it’s calibrated for the magnetic “deviation” in the plane, and so on. Ie, it’s an annoyance, but one that is unrelated to other reports of problems with the HSI itself.
The problem is in the setting of the flux gate, or whatever it’s called, that is supposed to keep determining the “real” magnetic heading to offset gyroscopic precession. It has a consistent bias of about 10 degrees
10 degrees, - schmen degrees - close enough that’s what I say!
Dean
- Glideslope needle on the Century HSI stopped working. Obviously this is not Cirrus’s fault; it worked when I picked it up, and died sometime later.
If you have two Garmin 430’s and an HSI, is there a backup glideslope indicator on the panel? Or, are you out-of-luck for the glideslope if the HSI goes out?
The 2nd 430 has its own CDI w/ GS indicator which serves as a backup.
If you have two Garmin 430’s and an HSI, is there a backup glideslope indicator on the panel? Or, are you out-of-luck for the glideslope if the HSI goes out?
The 2nd 430 has its own CDI w/ GS indicator which serves as a backup.
Joe,
Where is the GS indicator on the 430’s CDI? The “Default NAV Screen” shows a CDI, but I don’t think it shows a glideslope, does it? (Can’t remember cuz I have used the HSI GS when trying out ILS’s).
I only have one 430 (and one 420 – B package) so I figured I was just plain out of luck (for ILS anyway) when the HSI’s glideslope went out.
Thanks,
Steve
Where is the GS indicator on the 430’s CDI? The “Default NAV Screen” shows a CDI, but I don’t think it shows a glideslope, does it? (Can’t remember cuz I have used the HSI GS when trying out ILS’s).
I only have one 430 (and one 420 – B package) so I figured I was just plain out of luck (for ILS anyway) when the HSI’s glideslope went out.
There’s no glideslope indication on the face of the 430 itself. There’s a separate CDI/OBS head in the panel for the second Nav.
If you have two Garmin 430’s and an HSI, is there a backup glideslope indicator on the panel? Or, are you out-of-luck for the glideslope if the HSI goes out?
The 2nd 430 has its own CDI w/ GS indicator which serves as a backup.
Joe,
Where is the GS indicator on the 430’s CDI? The “Default NAV Screen” shows a CDI, but I don’t think it shows a glideslope, does it? (Can’t remember cuz I have used the HSI GS when trying out ILS’s).
I only have one 430 (and one 420 – B package) so I figured I was just plain out of luck (for ILS anyway) when the HSI’s glideslope went out.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve:
That is the problem I was asking you about earlier. With the “B” package the CDI head for the Garmin 420 has no glideslope. Therefore if the #1 430 works but the HSI fails there is no backup for the ILS. With the “C” there is a second CDI head WITH GLIDESLOPE to act as a backup. No ILS can be flown with the Garmin 430 screen. They need the remote CDI head in the form of a convebtional head or an HSI.
Brian
There’s no glideslope indication on the face of the 430 itself. There’s a separate CDI/OBS head in the panel for the second Nav.
Dave (& Brian),
Thanks… that’s what I had thought, but when I saw Joe’s mail about the 430 having its “own CDI/GS”, and knowing that the 430 DOES in fact have a CDI that can be viewed on the screen, I was hoping that maybe there was a GS indication I didn’t know about… But I see what Joe meant now(i.e. separate CDI/GS/OBS head if you have a 2nd 430).
Thanks
Steve