I think it has to do with current certification regulations.
Similar planes certificated earlier have no such limitation.
Certifying a plane for 18,000’ and over has stricter requirements now - maybe someone more familiar can clue us in as to what they are.
I hope someone knows, it seems like an artifical limit based on buracracy rather than common sense.
What changes where made to the turbo other than more avalible power? If that justified a increase of 7500’ how come adding 50% more power to the 22 didn’t justify a increase. I have to feel it could have but cirrus didn’t feel the gain was worth the cost when they made the 22.
With the turbo they did so the expence was made.
if anyone has more info on this i would love to hear it.
At this point i feel there is no safety reason a na 22 could not operate up to say FL20 with the same level of safety ie. speed above stall and handling that a sr20 has @ 17500.
just my thoughts with the information available.
…if one is forced to make a choice…
No one was “forced” into that situation. If it gets to that point there was probably a chain of bad choices made to get it there.
I hope someone knows, it seems like an artifical limit based on buracracy rather than common sense.
What changes where made to the turbo other than more avalible power? If that justified a increase of 7500’ how come adding 50% more power to the 22 didn’t justify a increase. I have to feel it could have but cirrus didn’t feel the gain was worth the cost when they made the 22.
With the turbo they did so the expence was made.
if anyone has more info on this i would love to hear it.
At this point i feel there is no safety reason a na 22 could not operate up to say FL20 with the same level of safety ie. speed above stall and handling that a sr20 has @ 17500.
just my thoughts with the information available.
Blu
Blu:
While I am sure that there are many nuances going on getting the plane certified above 17.5K, one of the major changes is the Turbo has pressurized mags, while the 22 and 20 do not.
It would be a real bummer getting up high and having the plane start to miss, cough, and otherwise raise your pucker factor above voice pitch level? Not a good place to be. While it might work sometimes, is it worth the bet that when you need it to work it will like before?
I hope someone knows, it seems like an artifical limit based on buracracy rather than common sense…
just my thoughts with the information available.
Blu
Your flight was conducted at well below standard temps at well below maximum weight.
The certification limits are not established at the optimum configuration as that is not realistic real world operation.
As a point of reference, Gary and I were flying over southern Colorado enroute to RNO a few years ago. We were at 18,000’ and below gross weight. IIRC temps were at or slightly above standard.
The plane flew fine but with a noticeable nose up attitude and felt somewhat mushy. I think we were able to see about 100 fpm in the climb but at the lower speed, the plane did not feel good. It would seem that any higher would not be safe.
So, while your flight conditions were obviously more favorable and could certainly have allowed higher flight, standard conditions at max weight upon which limitations are based would not be as good.
But to answer your question, turning around would be the wise choice. Many pilots get pulled into that sucker hole of trying to top weather. The tops always seem to be just a little higher than you thought and before you know it, you are staggering along at low speed in the clouds.
Blu:
While I am sure that there are many nuances going on getting the plane certified above 17.5K, one of the major changes is the Turbo has pressurized mags, while the 22 and 20 do not.
It would be a real bummer getting up high and having the plane start to miss, cough, and otherwise raise your pucker factor above voice pitch level? Not a good place to be. While it might work sometimes, is it worth the bet that when you need it to work it will like before?
Fly safely.
Trust me that paragraph (d) does not give you an out…
Well, Jerry, of course we trust you- that’s why we’ve been waiting for you all day- that pesky day job holding you up? If you held out any longer I was going to call Neil and make HIM read the FARs- lord knows I can’t keep 'em straight.
This thread on the guest side is as good an ad for membership as I’ve seen… pose a question, get 10 answers, some of them quite good, capped by Dr Seckler, who really knows alot about weather, FARs…and some other stuff I’m not at liberty to discuss til y’all cough up the $65.
It seems odd that the 20 and NA 22 are limited to 17.5. In addition to my P210 I’m also still in a club with a 1975 172M that has a Pen Yann 180 HP conversion. I have had it to 17.5 on several occasions and it was still climbing at 2-300 FPM. It could easily make 20K and that would be the limit due to the Altimeter certification of 20K. It has a much lower service ceiling (with a 150 HP 12K was a stretch) but nothing under limitations to my knowledge.
It would be a hoot to take it up to the FLs just to hear the reaction from ATC.
