SR 20 test flight

Well I finally got my test flight the other day and it is going to make the next year a long wait. A very impressive airplane.

Since the flying qualities have been discussed before I won’t bore everyone with those but the point I did want to make was how it flew from a grass strip. I live in a fly in community and have a hanger beside my house (dream on you people out west), so basing at a paved strip would not be practical. Ours is 2500’x50’bermuda in good condition with another 2000’ of field (corn, oats etc.) then rising terain. Field elevation is 720’. It is primarily a one way strip unless in a 172/182 type aircraft. We made about 5 take off and landings here.

To the point the SR 20 handled the grass very well. If anyone else is considering grass I think the three blade prop wound be advantagous due to ground clearance. We eat up about 2000 to 2100’ on a dry day of 86 degrees, no wind, typical mid North Carolina summer humidity, at current gross wt., three good size men, 3/4 fuel, bunches of Cirrus pamphlets, and Cirrus loaded demo plane with all the options. If the nose wheel is left down on take off (i.e. as would be done on pavement) it needed lots more runway. If the nose was carried with wt on mains significantly less. The wing just doesn’t seem to want to fly until speed is built up. Once the appropriate speed is attained it climbs well. It can’t be horsed into the air like a Cessna.

Landings took only about half of our runway. The plane comes down in a hurry if speed drops.

The landing gear did not seem to have a problem with the turf.

As with any airplane on grass, the take off distance will be longer than pavement. Since the Cirrus has a relatively long take off run it is in contact with more grass and is accordingly longer yet.

I feel that I should be able to take off from here O.K. even with wet conditions but not with a tail wind or visa versa at current gross wt. with about 95% utilization, not perfect but acceptable.
I would not recommend the SR 20 for anything less than our grass strip as utilization would probably drop significantly. The SR 22 may be a better match.

A good day to all, Mike