Thanks Ian B

I Just received an email update from Ian Bentley.

It is nice to be kept up to date. Thanks Ian and Congratulations on the tremendous increase in production effieiency!!

Here’s an excerpt:

"SR20 wing production, for example, which required over 1,700 man-hours per wing in December has been reduced to under 600 man-hours - and all this with logistical and organization effort rather than engineering or tooling changes. We expect there are still more improvements to come. Overall effort per airplane is about 60% of the December figures and

improving daily."

Good for them and very impressive. Saving 2,200 man hours per set of wings. That’ll help the bottom-line.

Bob: I have read the email from Ian Bentley. I am not sure what the status is regarding the autopilot on the SR22"B" model. The B model uses the S-TEC 55X, and the same issue regarding control wheel steering is still before the FAA.

There was a recent notice on the A.O.P.A. web site regarding A.O.P.A.'s request for additional time to respond to a proposed rule that the FAA wants to issue regarding control wheel steering. Does anyone have any information on that status of the FAA action?

What autopilots are in place in the 4 SR22’s delivered so far? Are they the S-TEC 55X? Is control wheel steering enabled?

The news on the automatic activation of the flight timer and placing the transponder in active operation is very good. These are thus two less things to worry about at a very busy time, and will ensure that you should always have flight duration time available and that your transponder is not cluttering up ATC radar while on the ground but will be operating before lift off. There are benefits in having all of the avionics from the same manufacturer!

I did have a recent email asking whether Cirrus is offering a Garmin 530/430 combination as an option. My response to that inquiry was that I did not know how that would fit. Accoring to my information, the existing avionics stack in the SR22B is 9.73" total: 1.3" for the Garmin 340 audio panel, 2.65" each for the Garmin 430’s, 1.5" for the S-TEC autopilot and display, and 1.63" for the Garmin 327 transponder.

A 530/430 install would be: 1.3" Garmin 340 audio panel, 4.58" Garmin 530, 2.65" Garmin 430, 1.5" S-TEC autopilot and display, and 1.63" Garmin 327 transponder. This is 11.66" total, or 1.93" more.

Although a 530/430 install would be ideal (see the recent article at www.avweb.com) I have no idea of where the additional 1.93" would come from. Unless Cirrus were willing to relocate the rudder trim and indicator and the flap switch and lamps to another location, I don’t see how it is possible. Any thoughts?

I Just received an email update from Ian Bentley.

It is nice to be kept up to date. Thanks Ian and Congratulations on the tremendous increase in production effieiency!!

Good for them and very impressive. Saving 2,200 man hours per set of wings. That’ll help the bottom-line.

Looking through Paul T’s photo album, it appeared to me that the assembly line was much more like a bunch of home builders rather than a true manufacturing process. Sounds like someone is doing good work gettting things nailed down.

Here’s an excerpt:

"SR20 wing production, for example, which required over 1,700 man-hours per wing in December has been reduced to under 600 man-hours - and all this with logistical and organization effort rather than engineering or tooling changes. We expect there are still more improvements to come. Overall effort per airplane is about 60% of the December figures and

improving daily."

Good for them and very impressive. Saving 2,200 man hours per set of wings. That’ll help the bottom-line.

The SR is built with a single piece wing. so the savings is 1,100 per aircraft.

This is still a great reduction and great for the program.

Appologies for a the anonymous reply!

"SR20 wing production, for example, which required over 1,700 man-hours per wing in December has been reduced to under 600 man-hours

Cheaper and faster setting glue??.(adhesive.) I wouldnt want fast short cuts if it were my bird.I’d say take your time.

600 man-hours per wing is certainly a wonderful improvement over 1700, and I very much hope Cirrus can attain similar improvements throughout its operations. In other words, I’m pulling for them.

But the simple fact that it takes 15 man-weeks at 40 hours/week to build a wing strikes me as astounding. That’s a whole bunch of work. When I toured the plant, it was obvious that a great deal of meticulous care was being taken in laying down the separate layers of 3M material for the wing, after which much sanding followed. Tough stuff to mechanize, no doubt.

Sealing the fuel tanks, running the control mechanics and electrical lines, bonding the top and bottom sections, etc., etc., also took time. But there was nothing evident to this untrained eye indicating that it took 600 hours of labor (and when I visited, it was before the efficiency improvement and was 1700 hours).

WOW! Hope they continue their production improvements.

Cheers all!

Pete

Cheers!

Here’s an excerpt:

"SR20 wing production, for example, which required over 1,700 man-hours per wing in December has been reduced to under 600 man-hours - and all this with logistical and organization effort rather than engineering or tooling changes. We expect there are still more improvements to come. Overall effort per airplane is about 60% of the December figures and

improving daily."

Good for them and very impressive. Saving 2,200 man hours per set of wings. That’ll help the bottom-line.

Good for them and very impressive. Saving 2,200 man hours per set of wings. That’ll help the bottom-line.

Looking through Paul T’s photo album, it appeared to me that the assembly line was much more like a bunch of home builders rather than a true manufacturing process. Sounds like someone is doing good work gettting things nailed down.

I also noticed in those photos there always seemed to be a few people just standing around not doing anything productive.

I also noticed in those photos there always seemed to be a few people just standing around not doing anything productive.

I guess you must be a manager.

:slight_smile:

Tom

Ooops. I knew that, just got carried away thinking about how much faster my bird would be done!

"SR20 wing production, for example, which required over 1,700 man-hours per wing in December has been reduced to under 600 man-hours

Cheaper and faster setting glue??.(adhesive.) I wouldnt want fast short cuts if it were my bird.I’d say take your time.

Faster setting glue does not reduce man-hours, just total time (unless they are paying people to watch the glue dry).

mdz

Faster setting glue does not reduce man-hours, just total time (unless they are paying people to watch the glue dry).

Yes they get paid to watch it.The oven people.The adhesive is only heat activated so one must get paid to heat it.

The 55X and the 55 have not, as far as I know, been suspended by STEC. One is being put in my 260SE as we speak.

Paul’s SR22 has the 55x – can you tell I’ve been staring at his pitcures too much :slight_smile:

My AP does NOT have control-wheel steering.

I don’t think you could implement it on a SR2X anyway.

My AP does NOT have control-wheel steering.

I don’t think you could implement it on a SR2X anyway.

Yep, as discussed earlier, the fact that the a/p drives the trim system directly, combined with the spring centering, makes CWS highly ugly. Basically, you’d hold the button down, pick an attitude, let go of the button, and then let go of the controls. Then the a/p would start cranking in trim to put you back in the attitude you started in. To get a sense of this, turn on your two-axis a/p in a Cirrus, overpower it, hold it for a bit, and then let go. You’ll enter interesting attitudes while the a/p furiously undoes all of the extra trim it cranked in trying to correct for your control inputs.

CWS works if your a/p has separate servos (with clutches) that drive the controls. You press the button, pick an attitude, let go of the button,

and the a/p basically grabs the controls where you were holding them.