I just read the Sandel supplement to the POH. It says you can’t fly IMC from the right seat with a Sandel. What are the implications of having a copilot take over during IMC? It sounds lite between the oxygen, the Sandel, and the weight the SR20 is really a 3 passenger plane (1 pilot and 2 rear seat passengers).
The viewing angle makes it difficult to see the Sandel from the right seat. However, I would never consider not having the Sandel after using it. Of course, I don’t fly with a copilot so of course, my reference is slanted toward that.
The weight of the SR20 was known to us long before we took delivery. My last plane was 180HP 172 with a 1050 pound useful load so of course, I never had a concern with weight. While I admit dealing with fuel calculations (we have standardized on leaving the fuel at 41 gallons) is a pain, the plane itself far outweighs this disadvantage at least as compared to my 172.
My 4 person trips in my 172 were rare and those I did have almost always had two couples that would fit under the weight profile with 41 gallons of gas giving me almost 3 hours range.
A little confused about the 41 gals. Is that for the 172 or the SR20? Or both? Where are the tabs in the SR20?
Paul
Where are the tabs in the SR20?
26 gallons.
Sorry about that. I had 50 gallon tanks in the 172 and always filled them to the top at every stop. There was never any need to have less than full tanks. In the SR20 that’s not possible so as a general rule, we keep the tanks filled to 41 gallons at the end of each flight. That seems to be a good compromise between range and weight.