Rethought from the inside out, the G7 series—including the SR20, SR22, and SR22T—takes cues from the Vision Jet to simplify operation while incorporating added safety and luxury features. All three 2024 models have completed the FAA type certification process and are ready for delivery.

We took an exclusive first series of flights with the striking new G7 in the SR22 version in early December for a We Fly pilot report that will debut in FLYING’s Issue 945/February 2024, reaching subscribers later this month. Till then, we can share a few key details. Further reporting will follow in an upcoming issue of Plane & Pilot.

Central to the updates is the reimagined Perspective Touch+ integrated flight deck with 12- or 14-inch high-resolution displays, and twin GTC touchscreen controllers, to mimic the functionality and redundancy available in the Vision Jet SF50–and the ease of using a smartphone. Engine start has transformed into a push-button interface, preserving the ability to check mags and set mixture while making the process feel similar to that of the SF50. The updated automated flight control system (AFCS) incorporates smart servos and includes an optional yaw damper. 

Updated synoptic pages and streamlined checklists aid the pilot in monitoring both systems and procedures throughout all phases of flight. And the Cirrus IQ app gives the pilot remote viewing and control of certain aircraft functions. Cirrus Global Connect delivers worldwide text messaging, telephone service, and global weather.

It’s telling that Cirrus Aircraft looked up the model line to its Vision Jet to drive out complexity from its core single-engine pistons, sending its engineers on a journey to find ways to make the SRs as straightforward to operate as the jet. While that sounds like a contradiction, perhaps, pilots have opined about the complexity involved in stepping down from a light jet back into the high-performance piston world.  

To this end, Cirrus has introduced a new shallower menu structure in the touchscreen controllers, along with a scroll wheel for turning through the CAS-linked, on-screen checklists smoothly. Still on the ground, Taxiway Routing and a contextualized 3D Safe Taxi guide the pilot around complex airport layouts, decluttering and slewing the PFD imagery to match the airplane’s speed and position on the airport. In the air, the automatic fuel selection system automatically switches between fuel tanks every 5 gallons.

Additional Safety Features

Pilots will also find an improved flight control, incorporating a stick shaker function to piggyback on the other envelope protection features in the Perspective+ series, for enhanced low-speed situational awareness. Both the left and right controls vibrate to warn of an approaching stall condition.


Another new addition to envelope protection is flap airspeed protection. The system monitors airspeed to protect the pilot from accidentally deploying or retracting flaps when the aircraft is traveling too fast or too slow for the given flap configuration change. 

A Stylish and Functional New Interior

In addition to the magic up front, Cirrus also rethought the interior, taking a page from current luxury vehicles to incorporate a host of new features, including redesigned interior panels, dimmable task lights, and ambient accent lighting. 

More rugged cup holders, more pockets, and two center console compartments efficiently store your smartphone and other key things for better cockpit organization and accessibility. Powered headset jacks and lighted high-power USB-C outlets come positioned within easy reach of each seat. 


First SR20 G7 Customer

While only one new TRAC20 (SR20) G7 has been built, it’s already wearing its school colors—those of Western Michigan University College of Aviation in Battle Creek. The Broncos are longtime Cirrus flight training operators and will incorporate the new models into their aviation degree programs. The school will take delivery in the first quarter for integration into the flightline.

Pilots across the board can opt into several training options for the new Cirrus line, including the OEM’s recently released Private Pilot Program—taking a prospective pilot from first flight to certification in their new airplane.

“Our mission is to increase participation in aviation, so more people can benefit from the freedom, productivity, and joy it provides,” said Zean Nielsen, CEO of Cirrus Aircraft. “We have also developed a comprehensive ecosystem, providing global sales, flight training, maintenance, and support to ensure our owners have a seamless ownership experience. Our aircraft are truly designed with people in mind, and the new SR Series G7 is a testament to that philosophy. Our team and our aircraft provide a clear path to enter and advance within the personal aviation community by learning to fly and eventually transition to the Vision Jet with ease.” 

The post Cirrus Unveils the G7 Editions of the SR20, SR22, and SR22T appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Despite these built-in challenges, designers in decades past succeeded in creating a handful of excellent family planes; that is, ones that are roomy enough for everyone in the modestly sized clan, are fast enough to get somewhere and have good enough range to cover a lot of ground between fuel stops.

Here’s our list of some great used planes for pilots looking to fly the fam.

Grumman Tiger

This is one plane you probably didn’t expect to see here, but it is a great family plane—so long as the kids are still little, that is. It’s easy to fly, has fantastic visibility, has room for bags (so long as the packing planners are prudent), and is both fast enough, around 135 knots, in my experience, and comfortable enough to make a good cross-country platform. This type was, in fact, the first family plane I ever flew, and I flew it a lot. For our typical missions, which were to take two grownups up front and two little kids in back, on trips of 500 to 750 nm for vacation or a quick trip to see relatives, the Tiger was ideal. The visibility is to die for, the fuel economy with a Lycoming O-360 is just fine, and the interior is plenty roomy. Plus, the Tiger is a relatively affordable buy in today’s high-priced used plane marketplace. Alternatives: Cessna 172RG; Diamond DA40.

Piper Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga

Piper’s six-seater, introduced in the 1960s, looked pretty much like what it was, a stretched-out version of one of Piper’s wildly popular, four-seat PA-28s. And then some. The “then some” part is critical here because Piper designed the plane right. Instead of merely giving it a stretched fuselage and a couple more seats, Piper’s designers gave the PA-32 a big double door in back, which made loading passengers and gear that much easier. They also added the club seating option, so the second and third row of seats faced each other instead of all facing forward, which is ideal for hauling stuff around, even without removing the rear row of seats, or for an adult in one of the rear-facing seats to keep an eye on the young’uns. The PA-32 was a popular plane and one that came in a variety of flavors over the years. There was the original 260-hp, all-forward-facing-seats version; the 300-hp model with and without club seating; a retractable gear model; and a T-tail version, too. The retractable gear models are fast, around 160 knots, compared with closer to 145 for the 300-hp fixed-gear Cherokee Six, and as is the case with many Piper models, the production run of the PA-32 spanned the era of the fat, squared-off wing (the Hershey bar wing) and the later, tapered airfoil. Regardless, all of them are excellent family flyers, which, again, I know from experience, as we flew PA-32s for years (including one that we owned with a couple of partners) and traveled far and wide with it as the kids got bigger. Alternatives: Beechcraft A36 Bonanza; Cessna 206.

Cessna 182 Skylane

So much has been written about the Skylane, and for good reason. It is one of the most popular planes in the history of aviation, both in terms of numbers built and capability. There’s very little the Cessna 182 can’t do, and one of the things it excels at is hauling a good load, doing it with decent speed and excellent flying manners. While Cessna introduced the stretched, six-seat 206 Stationair for those who needed even more room and hauling ability, for many families (ours included), the Skylane was plenty of airplane. It’s not the fastest plane out there—I used to flight plan for 135 knots and be pleasantly surprised if it was closer to 140—and so long as the load was balanced, it handled like a charm even when loaded to right around max takeoff weight. Earlier Skylanes were outfitted with the six-cylinder Continental O-235, and later ones are powered by six-cylinder Lycoming IO-540; they’re both great engines. If you can make do with four seats instead of six, the Skylane is a tough plane to beat for economical family flying. Alternatives: Piper PA-28-235 Dakota/Pathfinder; Beech V35 Bonanza; Maule MX-7.

Beechcraft A36 Bonanza

For many years, Beechcraft singles were the epitome of high-end personal flying, and with the introduction in the mid-1960s of the six-seat A36 model, Beechcraft (today owned by Textron Aviation) created what might be the perfect piston-powered family transportation plane. The A36 Bonanza simply checks all the boxes. Like the Cherokee Six, it features a sizable side door for rear-seating passengers to get into and back out of the plane. Club seating is standard; it’s roomy for the first four seats and passably roomy for the back two, and it’s both fast (around 170 knots) and long-legged, with a max range with the larger fuel tanks topping 800 nm. And the Bonanza just exudes a sense of high style while putting in the work. The A36 was never a cheap option for those looking for six-seat family cruisers; it just might have been the best one. Alternatives: Piper Saratoga, Piper Malibu.

Cirrus SR22

Even though not many pilots think of the Cirrus SR22 as a family plane, a lot of Cirrus pilots do, and their missions back up the belief. This is well known to the company, which markets its planes through its “Cirrus Life” brand initiative. The idea is that when you buy a Cirrus, you’re not just buying a plane but also a lifestyle. The program clearly resonates. The SR22, after all, has been the best-selling plane in the world for many years in a row now, and part of that is that it gets flown a lot. Just listen on center or approach frequencies for the small planes flying about; a lot of them are Cirrus SR22s. The plane is fast, remarkably roomy and sophisticated to beat the band. It also, and this should not be underestimated, features a whole-airplane recovery parachute system, a feature that clearly gives other family members enhanced confidence in the experience. SR22s are not, however, cheap. With brand-new ones going for around a cool million, they are a premium product, but they make good on that purchase price by delivering a premium experience. Alternatives: Cessna TTx; Mooney Ovation.

TBM

While we’re talking high-end singles here, we’d be remiss to not mention the TBM series of pressurized, single-engine turboprop planes. These are extremely expensive planes, both to buy and to operate. But the rewards are breathtaking. The configuration of the TBM series is very much like an upsized version of the Bonanza A36 or Piper Cherokee Six, with two seats in front and four seats in back in a club-seating configuration. But apart from the basic layout, the TBM is a whole other animal. It is a much more complex aircraft to fly, with systems that don’t exist on any of the other planes in this roundup. Those include (but are not limited to) pressurization and a turboprop engine, and the cost of upkeep and fuel is much greater than the priciest piston single. But the rewards again. A cruise speed, depending on the model, of between 285 and 335 knots, the ability to tool along at the flight levels in pressurized comfort, luxurious interiors and, in later models, sophisticated electronics. If you can handle writing those checks, what’s not to love? Alternatives: Piper Meridian; Piper M600.

Valuable flying lesson learned: Pilot Experiences Engine Failure on Family Vacation

Going Direct:  The Future of The Light GA and The Four-Seat Family Plane

Our Top 25 Planes Of All Time: Is yours on the list?

The post The Best Family Planes appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

A Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet went down while on arrival to Kissimmee, Florida, late last week. All three aboard survived the incident with minor injuries.

Details are still emerging, but preliminary reports indicate that the single-engine jet was inbound for Kissimmee when it encountered severe turbulence and heavy rain as it descended. The pilot at some point chose to deploy the whole-airplane parachute system (installed at the factory in every Cirrus aircraft).

It was hardly a cushy landing, however. The winds were gusting to nearly 30 knots at the airport, and the spot the Cirrus touched down, on the shore of a lake outside of the city limits was, by all outward indications, just as windy or worse.

It was the first deployment of the chute in actual conditions (that is, apart from test flying for certification), and based on the most important data point, survival, it was a glowing success.

Once the big red handle just behind but within reach of the pilot is pulled, the whole-airplane recovery parachute system does just what the name implies and lowers the entire plane, occupants and all, to the ground. It’s not a gentle landing so much as a survivable one. And while this is the first chute deployment of a Cirrus Jet, the company has been installing chutes in every one of its roughly 8,000 aircraft over the past 20 years, and there have been hundreds of successful deployments, saving even more lives than that.

In the Florida incident, in which the plane is said to be “substantially damaged” after settling down under the giant canopy, the plane was reported to have cartwheeled at least once as the big chute took it on a wild ride in the gusty winds. The plane came to rest away from the lake shore in a stand of tall trees, where the chute could pull the plane no more.

When Cirrus launched the Vision Jet program in the late 2000s, it announced that, like all Cirrus aircraft, the jet would have a chute, too. The announcement was greeted with some skepticism. At the much higher speeds the jet flies and with a great deal more weight to carry than the smaller single-engine propeller-driven Cirrus planes, the design of the chute would be a major engineering undertaking. But Cirrus pulled it off to the approval of the FAA, and Friday’s successful pull seems to validate the concept and the execution of the chute in the SF50 Vision Jet.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

Cirrus Parachute Saves Pilot’s Life

 Read up on the history of parachutes!

The post First Ever: Wild Chute Deployment as Cirrus Jet Goes Down in Florida appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

You want to know what new airplane Cirrus Aircraft is working on right now? Yeah, we do too, but they are tight lipped about it, if there even is a new airplane in the works, but they are happy to discuss what they are doing right now, and it’s cutting-edge stuff.

I spoke with Cirrus’ President of Customer Experience Todd Simmons on the third day of Oshkosh 2022, and it was great to catch up and to hear his thoughts on where Cirrus stands with their growth and how their vision for all things SR and SF, many of those ideas formulated a decade ago, have helped drive the design of the SR22 and the SF50 Vision Jet.

It gets said a lot, that Cirrus is the leading maker of small personal transportation aircraft, but its model lineup is small, consisting of the SR22, a six-cylinder four/five seat all-composite single with industry-best safety systems and the single-engine turbofan SF50 Vision Jet!ditto on the safety systems there. The company is closing in on 9,000 aircraft sold, a figure it expects to hit sometime in 2023. The vast majority of those sales are of the approximately $1 million SR22, which has been the top-selling single in aviation for 20 years running.

But the SF50 Vision Jet, which goes for right around $3 million and on which the company bet its very existence on more than one occasion, has been a huge hit. In the five years since it handed over the first SF50 in early 2017, Cirrus has delivered just over 350 of the Williams FJ-33 powered composite jets, and Simmons told me the company has orders for more than 400 more.

The design of both aircraft are informed by a handful of core values that Cirrus holds, and these aren’t the make-believe mission statement values you see from so many firms but ones it puts into practice, with product features that are the most innovative in the history of light GA, arguably GA, period, arguably aviation, period.

That value is the investment in safety features that pilots want and that objectively improve safety. The parachute is the one safety feature that everyone associates with Cirrus, and for good reason. A rocket-powered whole-airplane parachute system has been on every production from Cirrus since Day One, including the jet. But about 10 years ago, the company realized that pilots were in many cases declining to use the chute in an emergency, a choice for which too many of them were paying the ultimate price.

So, Cirrus changed not its vision, but its training with a new approach to the chute that is part of a comprehensive program it literally calls Cirrus Approach. It began to focus on procedures that put the chute at the center of the pilot’s safety perspective, with specific callouts on takeoff for when the chute was available for use and techniques specifically taught during recurrent training for how to deploy the chute, including things like how to find the best spot to deploy it. And that change in training procedures has paid dividends, with the number of fatalities declining and the percentage of deployments versus forced landings/crashes going up, that is, more deployments, which, Simmons emphasized, means more people returning to their families. More than 200, in fact.

Another unprecedented safety investment the company has made is recurrent training for pilots who buy used Cirrus aircraft, called Embark, which Cirrus pays for. The investment is for safety’s sake, it goes without saying, and people who are slightly more cynical than I might be say it’s a way for the company to reduce its liability tail. My response, so what? Good on them anyway.

In addition to the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, the company has invested in ever more advanced safety features, many of them associated with new products introduced by longtime partner Garmin International. The sexiest of those is inarguably Garmin Autoland, which Cirrus has on its jet and calls “Safe Return.” If the pilot were to be incapacitated, the push of a button will prompt the airplane to fly itself to the nearest suitable airport, brake to a stop and shut down the engine.

So, is there a new plane coming from Cirrus? I don’t know. Simmons did say that the company is always looking ahead, and anyone who knows anything about Cirrus knows that is literally true. So even if there’s not a new swept wing tri-jet on the horizon from Cirrus, you can rest assured that has been working all along to improve its products to the point where its current owners want to trade in their SR22 or SF50 and transition into the next best thing, which Cirrus hopes will be the updated bird it has just rolled out the hangar doors.

The post Cirrus Talks New Airplanes, Core Priorities appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

I’ve flown every model of Cirrus up through 2021, but one of my most memorable flights was with the author of this feature, Gary Black, who at the time worked for Cirrus and occasionally demonstrated new planes to excited aviation writers, like me. It was with Gary in Teterboro in the early 2000s that I first flew the newly launched SR22. It was, in short, an SR20 with a bigger engine, a Continental IO-550. Any reservations I’d had about the product were answered with the best retort in all aviation, more power. It climbed at 1,000-plus fpm, it cruised at around 180 knots, and it did it with fixed gear, a side-yoke, a whole-airplane parachute, great visibility and loads of room.

It was, and I knew it immediately, and I said so at the time, the future of high-performance light aviation. And with more than 8,000-plus SRs having been delivered since then, I guess I was right about that.

During that time, I’ve flown the SR22 (and the underappreciated SR20) more than 1,000 hours and have traveled to every corner of the country, with a few jaunts in South America and in Europe. I’ve flown it on business, a lot, in fact, for family transportation, and very occasionally, just for the pure joy of it. I’ve flown many dozens of approaches in actual conditions to or near minimums, I’ve flown it for hundreds of hours sipping O2 through the cannula as I motored along, dodging the big clouds in the high teens at 200 knots or better.

There are a lot of great airplanes in the world, and I am by no means a fan girl of the SR22 or of Cirrus the company. I have always been and remain a critical observer. But there is so much that the company has done with this line of piston singles to push along the state of the art in light aviation. And it continues to do that. The SR22 is a very expensive machine. It’s also a very sophisticated machine, one that does precisely what its designers meant for it to do, go fast, fly high and go down the airway a good stretch, all in high style.

The post Twenty Years Of Cirrus Piston Singles appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

If you’re in the market for a used Cirrus piston single, it can be daunting to decide which Generation (or Segment) fits your mission and budget: SR20 (200 or 215 HP), SR22 (310 HP), SR22TN (310 HP Turbo Normalized) or the top-of-the-line SR22T (315 HP Turbocharged). Cirrus Aircraft has only been delivering aircraft since 1999, and every single Cirrus ever produced is installed with a whole air-craft parachute, which the company calls the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). The innovation doesn’t stop there. Over the 20 years it has been building its SR20 and SR22 singles, Cirrus made hundreds of major and minor improvements. CAPS has been standard on all models, and it remains the most innovative and unique feature of a Cirrus Aircraft.

Cirrus Aircraft periodically introduced a new Generation when a significant number of improvements came out. The original version wasn’t a G1 until the G2 was introduced in 2004. The G3 launched in mid-2007 and skipped to G5 in 2013. The current generation is a G6. So, where did the G4 go? It was skipped as the number 4 is considered unlucky in the Asian culture because it sounds a lot like the Chinese word for “death,” and as a result, Chinese buildings often lack a fourth floor (just as American buildings sometimes skip the 13th). Brokers will often refer to the 2009-2012 segments as “G4” because when the Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI) was introduced in 2009, it proved to be a huge market differentiator. The SR22 has been the world’s bestselling aircraft for 17 years, and over 8,000 piston SR-series aircraft have been produced.

On the resale market, which is the hottest it has ever been, over 1,000 Cirruses have exchanged ownership in the past 12 months. The normal inventory of pre-owned Cirruses for sale at any one point in time is typically about 250 out of a fleet size of 6,000 aircraft (in North America), equating to roughly 4% of the fleet for sale. As with many other sectors of the economy, supply has dwindled significantly due to massive demand, with current listings (at the time of this writing) at 77 units, and about half of those are “under contract” awaiting prebuy evaluations prior to closing. This equates to less than 1% of the fleet being available for purchase, so if you see what you want, make an offer immediately contingent on a prebuy. The key is knowing what you want ahead of time. Read on. 

The following is a “CliffsNotes” version of the different generations of the piston models and their current values and availabilities. Aerista is a platinum preowned partner of Cirrus Aircraft and has detailed guides for the changes by model and the original pricing. Aerista’s proprietary pricing database, Aeristametrics, tracks thousands of SR and SF asking prices and closing prices and developed adjustment factors for about 20 parameters other than airframe and engine hours, so Aeristametrics can determine market values in each segment of the market with great accuracy. Sellers, lenders and acquisition clients rely on Aeristametrics to correctly value aircraft in the current market.

G1 (1999-2003)

The SR20 was first delivered in July 1999, and the total production that year was only nine aircraft. This grew to 90 in 2000, 270 in 2001, 350 in 2002, and 450 in 2003.

The delivery of the SR20 in 1999 brought much fanfare due to introduction, standardization and integration of the airframe parachute, glass panel, graphical GPS/nav/comm and sophisticated autopilot.

Avionics (standard and/or options)

Six-pack

Digital MFD

GNS430 (or 420 or 250) Multifunction Navigator/digital radio

Autopilot

Stec 55 (or 30)

Ice Protection

TKS (SR22 only)

The SR22, with its 310-hp engine, was first delivered in July 2001. Inadvertant Ice Protection (TKS) was optional in 2002. The first Avidyne Primary Flight Display (PFD) was introduced in March 2003.

The first special-edition Cirrus was a run of 100 Centennial Edition SR22s in 2003 with dual glass, TKS and a special linen white paint and tan interior to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight.

Current G1 prices:

SR20 $180K to $220K with average of $200K

SR22 $210K to $350K with average of $300K

SR22 Centennial Edition $245K to $300K with average of $290K

G2 (2004-2007)

The Generation 2, introduced in early 2004, was primarily a new fuselage design for Cirrus. Based on dynamic crash testing done at NASA Langley, the old 90-degree firewall configuration, which had been and is largely still standard to every other aircraft manufacturer, was changed to a 30-degree bevel to allow the fuselage to slide forward on a crash landing instead of digging in. This also reduced cooling drag through the engine compartment and slightly increased the cruise speed. With the new fuselage, access to the CAPS compartment was designed through the baggage bulkhead, eliminating the requirement on the G1 CAPS repacks to pop a cover off, rebonding the cover on and doing touch-up painting every 10 years.

Additional avionics upgrades became available to the Avidyne MFD, including XM Weather and Audio, Enhanced Terrain Avoidance Warning System (ETAWS) and CMAX Approach Plates in 2004. The PFD gained a flight director, and airbag seatbelts became available in 2005. Factory air conditioning and semi-portable oxygen became popular options in 2006. The six-point engine mount reducing engine vibration became standard. Factory installation of the Tornado Alley STC for its turbo-normalizing (TN) system with dual turbos and intercoolers also became an option in late 2006.

Cirrus produced its second special edition with a limited production of 50 Signature Edition SR22s with racing stripes on an all-sterling or white paint scheme. It was completed with the signatures of Alan and Dale Klapmeier, co-founders of Cirrus Design. This also offered the factory installation of the Tornado Alley STC for their TN system with dual turbos and intercoolers.

Current G2 prices:

SR20 $220K to $260K with average of $230K

SR22 $280K to $600K with average of $340K

SR22TN $250K to $400K with average of $340K

G3 (2007-2012, sorta)

In April 2007, the Generation 3 was introduced with a new wing. A stronger and lighter carbon fiber spar expanded fuel capacity from 81 to 92 gallons. Spar length increased wingtip to wingtip, and the fresh air inlet was moved from the leading edge of the wing to the cowling. This allowed for about 10 more feet of TKS panel on the inadvertent ice protection panels. The wing dihedral grew to allow for removal of the rudder-aileron interconnect. The landing gear came closer, raising the fuselage 3 inches and the wingtips 5 inches. 

During this time, Cirrus engineers had been working on three new avionics systems for certification; Avidyne R9, L3 Smartdeck and Cirrus Perspective by Garmin. The recession of 2008 started, and Cirrus could only support one, so in May 2008, Cirrus offered the option of Cirrus Perspective by Garmin, and it became standard in 2009 due to the high demand. This included a digital autopilot, yaw damper, synthetic vision and a highly redundant electrical system. Later, in November 2008, the Enhanced Vision System (mixing Infrared and low light into a display on the MFD) became an option.

Current G3 prices 

(on average, Cirrus Perspective avionics carries $50K premium over Avidyne):

SR20 (2007-2016) $210K to $420K with average of $350K

SR22 (2007-2008) $340K to $520K with average of $360K

SR22TN (2007-2008) $300K to $495K with average of $390K

G4

After three years of testing, FIKI became certified and offered as an option in January of 2009. The fluid capacity doubled from 4 gallons to 8 gallons, dual pumps were installed, the vertical tail and elevator horns were protected, the stall warning was heated, and the windshield had dedicated sprayers. This was such a game-changer in the capability of the Cirrus that brokers, responding to the way buyers hone the search, often define this segment as a G4.

Factory Turbocharging 

In 2010, Cirrus installed the Continental TSIO-550K to create the SR22T. This was a newly developed engine by Teledyne Continental Motors, putting out 315-hp. It was also quieter due to a max 2,500 RPM setting. Cirrus designed an oleo nose strut also to dampen nose landing gear shocks. The Garmin avionics now incorporated Electronic Stability Protection (ESP) Autopilot stall protection, hypoxia detection and auto descent, among other enhancements.

In 2011, Cirrus produced 10 commemorative edition aircraft to celebrate 10 years of the SR22 series, and also the 5,000th Cirrus was delivered.

ADS-B Out became standard in 2011, and ADS-B In became available in 2012. One of the most-desired improvements for passengers came in January 2012 with the 60/40 flex seating, the slightly widened seating area allowing for three smaller passengers in the back seats. The seats were able to recline and had automotive-type seatbelts. Lastly, the seats had the “LATCH” system to allow easy installation of infant car seats.

Current 2009-2012 “G4” Prices:

SR22 $390K to $540K with average of $480K

SR22T $400K to $585K with average of $510K

G5

In 2013, Cirrus introduced the G5 SR22 model, which featured an increase of 200 pounds in useful load. Other than FIKI, no improvement was better received. After years of design and testing of a larger canopy, the CAPS system incorporated a larger, more powerful rocket with electronic versus percussion ignition, allowing the system to handle 3,600 pounds. The spar and landing gear also were beefed up to support the greater weight. The redesign also allowed for deploying 50% flaps at 150 KIAS instead of the previous limit of 119 KIAS. Pilots flying into Class B airports appreciated this when they were mixed in with jet traffic and asked to “keep their speed up.”

The 2014 Cirrus offered the new Beringer wheels and brakes. The brakes were higher temperature tolerant, lighter weight and had greater stopping power. The tires were now tubeless, removing one rare but frustrating source of flat tires in the field.

The digital 4-in-1 standby gauges, four USB outlets and enhanced high UV blocking windows were also introduced in 2015.

After several years of “slam shut”-style automotive doors, the 2016 Cirrus incorporated a positive door latch, virtually eliminating the occasional door pops if improperly closed. This also featured a key fob allowing for remote locking and unlocking of the doors, with the added benefit of turning on convenience lights. Garmin’s Flight Stream 210 incorporated two-way interface between an iPad and the Garmin avionics. Angle of attack was now displayed on the PFD of FIKI aircraft.

G6

By 2017, the basic Garmin G1000 architecture in Cirrus Perspective was more than a decade old and at the limits of its growth. Generation 6 introduced Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin, which used the new Garmin NXi technology. The new hardware was able to process data 10X faster than the previous G1000 units and allow for more functions, detail and capability. For example, VFR Sectionals and IFR Enroute Charts could be displayed on the MFD, and panning and zooming were effortless. The keyboard changed from alphanumeric to a true QWERTY layout. The dual Aircraft Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) and Air Data Computers (ADC) were integrated into a dual ADAHRS. The XM Weather was animated, and a graphical weight and balance calculator was on the MFD at startup. Surface Watch gave aural and visual runway warnings. Flight Stream 510 allowed use of the Garmin database concierge for updates.

Pilot and passengers alike admired the new Spectra LED wingtip lighting and wigwag features in flight.

G6 SR20

The SR20 also enjoyed an important change in 2017, as Cirrus swapped the six-cylinder 200-hp Continental IO-360ES for the four-cylinder 215-hp Lycoming IO-390. This gave the SR20 a max weight increase of 100 pounds, to 3,150 pounds. Combined with the lighter weight of the Lycoming engine and composite propellor, the useful load increased by 150 pounds.

The G6 was further improved in 2018 with multipane MFD functionality, the “Green Donut” Vref speed cue on the PFD for approach speed management and Auto Level if the pilot strays outside the ESP envelope for longer than 20 seconds.

2019 introduced the 600-foot “CAPS Available” callout on takeoff, GPS above ground level altitude readouts and a glide range ring. The Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin also allowed numerous other benefits in the avionics interface and information.

The highlight of the 2020 model year was the Cirrus IQ, which allows the pilot to use an app to check the fuel, battery and TKS levels of the aircraft right from their phone. An optional 4-blade SR22T propeller from Hartzell also became available.

Current G6 Prices:

SR20 $450K to $595K with average of $570K

SR22 $685K to $950K with average of $790K

SR22T $810K to $1.15MM with average of $880K

While the Cirrus SR market was hot prior to the COVID era, the pandemic gave thousands of business owners and professionals more control of their time and added incentive to fly their own planes. Many took advantage by learning to fly. Many of them then got into aircraft ownership with a preowned Cirrus G1 to G3. This allowed the sellers of those aircraft to move into a G5, G6 or order a new Cirrus. Because of the dozens of major improvements and hundreds of un-
seen design improvements, many Cirrus owners seem to upgrade a generation or a model every two to three years, and this resale value remains strong for years to come. It will take years to return to a normal availability of 4% to 5% on the market from the current 1%, so if you are looking at preowned, now is as good a time as any to enter the market.

Safe flying!

Twenty Years Of Cirrus Piston Singles

The post Cirrus Piston Singles Buyers Guide appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

The ’22 edition of the SR22 has hit the factory showroom, and there’s big news, and, no, it’s not the upgraded USB ports or new app features. The new plane, claims Cirrus, is faster—substantially faster. How much faster is it, and how’d they do that? Because who doesn’t love fast?

In the 1970s, Mooney hired aero mods guru Roy LoPresti to slick out its Mooney M20, and it became substantially faster and was nicknamed the 201 for its top speed in mph. Since then, it’s been no secret that you can add a few knots by optimizing undesirable fluid dynamic signatures!that is, by cleaning up the design! And that’s exactly what Cirrus says that it’s done with its latest SR models.

How much quicker is the new SR22? It’s “up to nine knots faster,” Cirrus claims. If that’s true, and Cirrus generally plays it straight with its numbers, then that’s a huge increase, on the order of 5% of the plane’s top speed. Cirrus made this magic, it says, by cleaning up the leading edge of the wing and making “aerodynamic improvements” to the “wings, tail and wheel pants.” It doesn’t sound, however, like Cirrus toyed with the structure of the wing, which would be a huge and expensive undertaking. The company does say, however, that “the new model’s ice panel transition seams are smoothed and wheel pant tolerances tightened to reduce drag.” Interference drag is low-hanging fruit, so good for them. And one of the surest way to cut drag and improve airspeeds is to make the wheel pants more efficient, which usually means “smaller,” and the new wheel fairings do seem sleeker, though Cirrus didn’t have a lot of material to play with—the wheel pants were already pretty tight.

There are other changes to the SR22, and most of them have to do with quality-of-life improvements. There are, as we joked, updated USB ports, improved external lighting, a wider-opening baggage door and more room for storing things in the hole. Plus, the Cirrus app, Cirrus IQ, has been updated to allow owners to see more details of their missions. The Maintenance Minder utility tracks upcoming inspections and gives reminders. On top of that, the app tracks flight hours and automatically updates inspection documents, displaying “a progress bar and countdown to the upcoming inspection event.” Those are all cool things.  

Cirrus IQ’s “My Trips”, due out next month, logs each flight and “curates key trip statistics and achievements earned while flying.” The app also helps owners keep track of their warranty coverage.

In all, the Cirrus SR experience, it’s clear, is designed to mimic (and in some cases exceed) the experience of owners of high-end cars, and yes, we’re talking about Tesla. Cirrus’s director of the SR product line Ivy McIver said, “The model year 2022 G6 SR is refreshed to seamlessly sync with your life—taking you further, keeping you connected and distinguishing your style in the air and on the ramp. This latest update to the G6 embodies our passion for continued innovation and commitment to design.”

The post Latest Cirrus SR22 Is Faster? How Much Faster? appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

In some ways, the year 2019 was a remarkable one in aviation, but when it came to new plane introductions, it was, well, a continuation of a familiar trend. In the Part 23 world, there were no newly certificated planes, though at least one looks like an outside shot at getting approved by the end of the calendar year. Other emerging designs look as though they won’t make it. Some are being pushed out to 2020 and beyond, which is the way things are in the brave new world of airplane manufacturing.

The days are gone when each year brought a handful of clean-sheet airplane designs, high-flying models launched at Paris or Oshkosh (or Wichita or Vero Beach). Almost every new plane these days is a derivative of a former successful model. With the cost of designing, certifying and then producing a clean-sheet design being so astronomically expensive, while simultaneously the market for those designs has shrunk, it should surprise no one that companies overwhelmingly choose to rework existing designs instead of starting from scratch. This path not only cuts the risk of unpleasant surprises of the aerodynamic kind, but it also helps ensure a market for the new model—if the older version was a hit, then the new, improved one should make an even bigger splash. It often works exactly like that. And, to their credit, many of these updated models feature spectacular new capabilities, often as a result of incorporating a new safety system or powerplant upgrade.

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Our first plane of the year, the Cirrus SF50, is a recent clean-sheet design. When it garnered FAA approval, it became the only certificated single-engine jet in the world and brought with that accolade a remarkably spacious cabin with out-of-this-world visibility and design, and flying manners so user friendly that it made good on the claim to be the jet that SR22 high-performance piston-single pilots could realistically and safely step up to.

The changes in the Generation 2 edition are far from cosmetic upgrades. The latest Cirrus jet features autothrottles, a higher ceiling (up to 31,000 and, hence, RVSM approval), an increase in range up to 1,200 nm, and an attendant boost in useful load of 150 nm on shorter trips. On top of that, the SF50 is faster, too.  

Our other Plane of the Year winner is as far from a clean-sheet design as imaginable, or very nearly so. The Piper 100 and 100i are based on the classic Piper PA-28 design, which the company has spun off repeatedly over the last six decades. The Piper is different, though, than any previous iteration in the way it’s outfitted. It isn’t the first PA-28 to sport a Continental engine, the Continental Prime IO-370-DA3A, which puts out, you guessed it, 180 hp, the same as the Lycoming IO-360 in the Archer model it essentially updates. The 100 and 100i (the “i” adds a back seat position and instrument capability) also boast the Garmin G3X Touch Certified, a development of Garmin’s award-winning flat-panel avionics for amateur-built and LSA aircraft, along with the company’s newly announced GNX 375 navigator and GFC 500 digital autopilot. The combination of the remarkably capable but less-expensive avionics and the new Continental engine allowed Piper to offer the 100 and the 100i for the retail prices of $259,000 and $285,000, respectively, which make them around $100,000 less expensive than the Archer they complement in Piper’s successful training lineup. That could translate to more trainers and more happy, successful new pilots. And who doesn’t like the sound of that?

Congratulations to our Plane of the Year winners!

Click the “Next” button below to see contenders for next year.

The post 2019 Planes Of The Year: Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet G2 And Piper 100 appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

For reasons that are both easy to understand and completely counterintuitive, the four-seat, piston-powered airplane has, for decades, dominated the GA marketplace. And it continues to do so, even though the number of pilots who buy these planes as a transportation tool has slowed dramatically, mostly in lock step with the slowing of the overall GA piston market. The tens of thousands of personal planes sold every year in the ’60s and ’70s, the true heyday of flying in the United States, has turned into fewer than a thousand planes in a good year, and the two dozen or more available models have shrunk to just a handful.

That four-seaters should be the prototypical GA ride makes sense to pilots—but to few others. Considering that most flights go out with one or two occupants (including the pilot), it seems a two-seat alternative would make sense. I’ve thought so for years, but the market was never developed for such a runabout. This is surprising because two-seat planes, like the Van’s RV series, dominate the kitbuilt market and have for decades. Not so in the Part 23 world.

Last year, GA manufacturers worldwide turned out 1,139 piston-powered planes. In the US, manufacturers of piston planes delivered 829, including 771 singles. Of those singles, 380 of them were Cirrus SR22s or SR20s, and 160 of them were Cessna Skylanes, Skyhawks or TTx (a single delivery).

For its part, Piper Aircraft delivered 114 four-seaters in 2018. So those three manufacturers—Cessna, Cirrus and Piper—accounted for all but 87 of the piston singles sold. Sales of six-seat (or larger) piston planes need to be factored in, as well. Piper sold 20 M350s (formerly the Mirage) and Beech handed over 15 G36s.

Internationally, it doesn’t get any more crowded. The top seller among other companies was the Diamond DA40, with an impressive (but still modest by historic standards) 45 deliveries. The bottom line is that recent sales of four-seat models are scant, and those sales are dominated by a few companies.

Moreover, the profile of the customers putting cash on the cowling for four-seat planes has shifted tremendously, as well. In the ’60s and ’70s, though it’s hard to come up with firm numbers, most four-seat piston planes were marketed and sold to private owners. That still happens in some instances, especially in the case of Cirrus Aircraft, which targets affluent pilots looking for high-tech personal transportation. The two other major players, the Textron Aviation Cessna Skyhawk and the Piper Aircraft Archer, are overwhelmingly sold to flight schools.

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There have been a couple of departures from our last roundup of four-seat planes. Textron Aviation pulled the plug on the critically acclaimed but slow-selling TTx (formerly the Columbia, among other names), and it ended production of its problematic diesel-powered 172 JT-A. Piper announced this spring that it was no longer producing its four-seat retractable landing gear Arrow model, though the company acknowledged that it could and likely would restart production if a substantial fleet order materialized.

Another major change in the marketplace is the drying up of the piston-single retractable gear market. Beech sold 15 Bonanzas, and Mooney sold seven each of its Ovation Ultra and Acclaim Ultra, and that was about it. There are a couple of emerging retractable-gear models. The Pipistrel Panthera has been inching toward certification for a few years now—is this the year it gets it done? —and Diamond’s exciting DA50 retractable-gear single is looking as though it might get the company’s attention after sitting on the back burner for the past several years. Both planes are included at the end of this roundup as being on the horizon, thought if you’ve been in aviation very long, you know that the horizon is usually much farther away than it looks.

The other big wild card in this whole four-seat equation is the Part 23 rewrite—I guess we’ll have to come up with another term that now it’s been rewritten. These liberalized certification standards have been adopted but not put into practice much. As such, the new FAA standards will allow manufacturers to wrangle approval for their light planes by using industry consensus standards, much the same way as it’s done in the LSA world but with more FAA oversight. Will these changes result in more Part 23 four-seaters (or any other type, for that matter)? We’re just not sure. But in the LSA segment, this certification approach has resulted in an impressive number of new designs.

Lastly, there remain two big stumbling blocks for the return of the four-seat market to anything resembling its former glory. First, and most obvious to the consumer, is that these new planes are expensive, not just in dollar numbers, but even when adjusted for inflation and other factors. Second, the manufacturers aren’t getting rich on these planes, either. Everything they use to build these planes, including the labor, is more expensive, too.

One ray of hope is, ironically, the aging of the piston fleet. With the introduction by Garmin and a few others of game-changing avionics retrofit options for owners of older planes, which is a lot of us, there’s suddenly new life for these planes. That doesn’t mean they’re getting any younger though, just that they’re more useful to us for a while longer. But the truth is, the supply of decent used planes is shrinking, and they cost a lot to maintain.  There’s nothing we can do about either of those things.

There’s also the subject of electric power. The dream of having small planes that run on battery power is great, but it’s not happening anytime soon. Four-seat planes are about twice as heavy as two-seaters, and battery power doesn’t make much sense on two-seaters, yet. Until there are major breakthroughs in battery storage capacity and/or weight, electric flight will remain more science experiment than practical solution.

Some of the four-seaters that remain in production, however, are impressive examples of how new technology can successfully breathe life into great, old designs. Cessna’s high-wingers spring to mind. Others, like the Cirrus piston singles, are new airplanes, relatively speaking at least, and show that innovation can actually create new markets.

Click the button below to see our lineup of production Part 23 four-seat singles. Enjoy.

Cirrus SR22 G6/SR22T

Okay, the Cirrus SR22 isn’t really a four-seater—it’s a four-/five-seater, but we’ll allow it since the plane’s general configuration is identical to other recent Cirrus models, but with extra room inside to add a third, smaller backseat passenger. It’s a good thing we’re counting them, too, as the SR22 is the most-produced light plane in the world. It’s not the fastest piston single in the skies—that distinction belongs to the Mooney Acclaim Ultra, but the SR22 is the most technologically advanced model available, with its built-in whole-airplane recovery parachute system, optional known ice protection, excellent exterior lighting and much more. It’s also the bestselling single in the world once again, despite a steep price of around $900,000 with all the bells and whistles. The latest model, the SR22 G6, has the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, which was rare when Cirrus launched its G6, but is now in just about every new model. NXi is great, but Cirrus takes it several steps further with its Perspective keyboard controller which, with practice, cuts down on pilot workload and eases operation. The SR22 is available in a normally aspirated or turbocharged version, though most buyers go with the turbo. That would be our call, too, as the blower allows the plane to achieve its best true airspeeds when you head up to the mid-teens, where we spend most of our time when we’re flying the plane.

Niche: Premium fixed-gear transportation plane.
Bragging Points: The chute, great styling, outstanding visibility and excellent cross-country performance, high style and excellent visibility.
Tradeoffs: Premium price point, control feel that leaves something to be desired, less-than-best-in-class speed.
Base Price: $539,900; $639,900
Price Typically Equipped: $950,000
Competitors: Mooney Acclaim Ultra, Mooney Ovation Ultra
Fun Fact: Cirrus offers trade-up programs for pilots looking to up their game in an SR22 and later transition to the SF50 Vision Jet.

Specs SR22; SR22T
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-N/310 hp; Continental TSIO-550-K/315 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78 diameter; Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78″ diameter
Avionics: Cirrus Perspective+ By Garmin (Garmin G1000 NXi)
Top Cruise Speed: 183 kts; 213 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 60 kts; 60 kts
Max Range: 1,118 nm; 1,021 nm
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,600 lbs.; 3,600 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 798 lbs.; 716 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,330 lbs.; 1,248 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,082 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll); 1,517 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll)

Mooney Acclaim Ultra

Mooney is back in business, and its latest models offer huge improvements in comfort and utility, while taking nothing off the eye-popping speed numbers. The Mooney Acclaim Ultra is different than previous Mooneys because it has two doors—one on each side. Construction is very similar to previous sheet-metal Mooneys, with the exception of the forward fuselage section being composite, which allowed the company to add a door and make both doors substantially larger than previous portals. As a bonus, the windows are also lower for better overall visibility. How fast is the Acclaim Ultra? As they say in Beantown, it’s wicked fast, to the tune of 240-plus knots fast. To get that speed, Mooney pairs its slick aerodynamics to a 310 hp turbocharged Continental TSIO-550. The Acclaim Ultra is now standard with the Garmin G1000 NXi, so owners can get all the latest avionics goodness. In all, the Acclaim Ultra is a four-seat single that’s faster than any other plane in its segment, has FIKI ice protection as an option and is more comfortable than ever.

Niche: Premium retractable-gear personal transportation plane.
Bragging Points: Best speed in the world, greatly improved interior, comfortable seats, tremendous range.
Tradeoffs: It’s smaller inside than an SR22 or TTx, and the gear adds complexity, weight and, down the road, maintenance.
Base Price: $769,000
Competitors: Cessna TTx, Cirrus SR22
Fun Fact: The Acclaim Ultra can trace its roots back to the original Al Mooney-designed M20 of 1955, with a wood wing. It’s come a long way since then, but it’s still built in Kerrville, Texas.

Specs
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental TSIO-550-G/280 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 242 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 56 kts
Max Range: 1,100nm (45-min. reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 384 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,000 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 2,100 ft./2,650 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

Mooney Ovation Ultra

When Mooney got back into business several years ago now, Job One was to reinvigorate the lineup. In 2017, Mooney got FAA approval for its Acclaim Ultra, the turbocharged version of its slick airframe. The normally aspirated model, the Ovation Ultra, came next. The company got the thumbs up for that model last year. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra gets a fiberglass shell on the forward fuselage in place of the former sheet-metal outer shell. As on the Acclaim, this gave Mooney the ability to reimagine the forward shell, adding a pilot’s side door, enlarging and lowering the windows, all without adding additional weight. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra features the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite. Known icing protection is available, as is air conditioning. The big differentiator between Ovation and Acclaim is the powerplant. The Acclaim, designed to fly high, relies on better true airspeeds up there without losing horsepower for its best-in-class speed. The Ovation, on the other hand, accomplishes this with more power—310 hp compared to 280 hp for the Acclaim Ultra. It works great, too. The Ovation Ultra is the fastest normally aspirated production piston single, achieving just a couple of ticks short of 200 knots true. The model also boasts tremendous range, greater than 1,400 nm, and terrific climbing ability.

Niche: High-performance retractable-gear transportation plane
Bragging Points: Fastest non-turbo plane in its class. Top-notch avionics. 
Tradeoffs: Not as roomy as its fixed-gear competition. Does its best work at lower altitudes.
Base Price: $689,000
Competitors: Cirrus SR22, Mooney Acclaim Ultra
Fun Fact: Mooney delivered seven Ovation Ultras in 2018, the same number as for the Acclaim Ultra.

Specs
Main Construction: Metal with forward-fuselage composite skin
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-G/310 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: Garmin G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 197 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 59 kts
Max Range: 900 nm (45-minute reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 514 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,130 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,600 ft./2,500 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

The post Four-Seat Piston Singles Round-Up appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

On the ramp in the mist, the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet, which many still call the “Cirrus Jet,” is a figure of some mystery. When I posted a photo on my Facebook page of the plane viewed from the rear, its distinctive V-tail prominent, a friend asked if it was a “Bugatti.” Now, the Bugatti, developed at the tail end of the Golden Era of air racing, was a single-engine speedster with a distinctive V-tail. The slick little number makes a lot of lists of the most beautiful airplanes of all time. The Vision Jet!not so much. It is, in contrast, the AMC Pacer of planes, a deeply polarizing aesthetic experience. Me? I like it.

Then again, I’ve flown it a few times, so I’m biased. It’s an airplane unlike any in the worldwide fleet that does things that few other planes can in a way that is unique. It is the unicorn of general aviation planes.

It’s a jet, let’s not forget. And the big bullet point on this update is that it has autothrottles. Oops, autothrottle. I have a hard time referring to “engine” and not “engines” when it comes to the SF50, though I’ve made progress. Keeping autothrottle singular is a work in progress. It is the only civil jet in the world with such a technology.

Autothrottles are not new to me. I’ve flown a dozen jets with this technology—Gulfstreams, Embraers, Falcons and Citations—and even though I didn’t fully understand the appeal of the technology before I flew with it 15 years ago, I have over time developed a strong appreciation for the safety benefits autothrottles bring to flying jets. There’s zero doubt in my mind that SF50 flyers will feel the same.

But with the introduction of its SF50 Generation 2, or “G2”—the company is reprising the naming convention it developed for the SR20 and SR22 piston singles—Cirrus has created something that is a brand-new experience for me, well, and anyone else who gets to fly it: a single-engine, single-pilot jet with a Boeing 787 level of technological sophistication. And truth be told, the Vision Jet makes better use of such sophistication than the Boeings or Airbus beauties do because when you’re flying single pilot, the fewer things you need to keep track of, the more safely you can fly, especially when things get busy.

I have a single pilot type rating in a few small jets, the Cessna CitationJet CJ through CJ4, none of which have autothrottles—not yet, at least (and that’s me, not Textron speculating here)—and I know from simulator experience that when things get busy with emergencies, managing airspeed and engine health on non-FADEC, non-autothrottle engines makes already challenging circumstances even more difficult to safely manage.

The post We Fly The Cirrus Vision Jet Generation 2 appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.