A ride in a Cirrus SR22
Today I went for a ride in a Cirrus SR-22, a plane I have admired (by specs) since getting back into flying a year ago. I got the chance to check it out because of a local -22 owner @ JGG. He is looking for a partner on the airplane, and though I couldn't afford to buy in with him (I wish I could) he was still more than willing to give me a demo flight.
We had lunch at the local airport restaurant and then drove down to his hangar. We pulled the plane out and after a quick preflight hopped in. The first thing I noticed was that the interior of the plane was a little smaller than I expected (based on pictures I have seen). That is pretty typical for me; pictures of items always seem larger than the real thing. However, it was still a very comfortable cabin and at least there was some room between pilot and co-pilot which is not the case in the 172R I normally fly around in. The seat was a little bit hard and I was worried it would be uncomfortable, but I never noticed it to be a problem throughout the flight.
One thing that was nice was the view out of the cockpit. As you slide the seat forward toward the controls it lifts up, providing even better visibility over the cowling.
It has a four point harness that was a bit easier to deal with than the belts in the C-172 though I don't think I had mine adjusted quite right since the shoulder straps occasionally slipped off.
We departed on 31 and headed out to the West. The takeoff was impressive. It had a good feeling of power starting down the runway, but the most impressive part was liftoff - we shot up into the sky like there was no tomorrow. At 2000' Jim handed the plane over to me and I had my first taste of flying a high performance airplane. I did my best to keep it from climbing and for the most part stayed with a few hundred feet of the target altitude. Since I had no instruments in front of me it wasn't too bad. I have never flown from the right side, at least not in years, so that was interesting in and of itself. We cruised at 50% power showing about 140kts of indicated airspeed (fast plane!). We went north to the HCM VOR, let the autopilot fly part of the JGG VOR approach and then went NE for a little while.
The side stick was not at all hard to get used to. Since I was using my right hand to fly it was working out some weak muscles, which grew tired after about 30 minutes, but it didn't feel weird. It was nice to not have a yoke blocking the instrument panel.
The MFD (multifunction display) was a beautiful thing. It had integrated traffic avoidance so we could see other transponder-equipped airplanes near-by. As expected, it was disturbing to know how many airplanes are flying around that you never see with your eyes. The traffic avoidance gear is a very nice thing. I was also surprised by the quality of the screens on the two Garmin GPS units - nice and high-res.
All too soon we were pointing back toward JGG to land. We hopped in the pattern, where half-flaps were put in. We landed with half-flaps (there were some crosswinds). The landing felt very fast right over the runway, I am used to the 172 landing speeds and the Cirrus comes in much quicker.
It was a great flight, one that I have wanted to do for quite a while - many thanks to Jim! It certainly made me realize that I'd like to own one someday.
BTW, I found a cool video of a flight in a Cirrus here, link courtesy of the Cirrus Owners and Pilot's Association forum.
As an added bonus to really make this an excellent flying day, I saw a flier for aerobatic demo flights in a Pitts Special available @ JGG - I plan to do that ASAP.
I also learned about a local guy that offers taildragger lessons for $50/hr. I have to do that too! :)
We had lunch at the local airport restaurant and then drove down to his hangar. We pulled the plane out and after a quick preflight hopped in. The first thing I noticed was that the interior of the plane was a little smaller than I expected (based on pictures I have seen). That is pretty typical for me; pictures of items always seem larger than the real thing. However, it was still a very comfortable cabin and at least there was some room between pilot and co-pilot which is not the case in the 172R I normally fly around in. The seat was a little bit hard and I was worried it would be uncomfortable, but I never noticed it to be a problem throughout the flight.
One thing that was nice was the view out of the cockpit. As you slide the seat forward toward the controls it lifts up, providing even better visibility over the cowling.
It has a four point harness that was a bit easier to deal with than the belts in the C-172 though I don't think I had mine adjusted quite right since the shoulder straps occasionally slipped off.
We departed on 31 and headed out to the West. The takeoff was impressive. It had a good feeling of power starting down the runway, but the most impressive part was liftoff - we shot up into the sky like there was no tomorrow. At 2000' Jim handed the plane over to me and I had my first taste of flying a high performance airplane. I did my best to keep it from climbing and for the most part stayed with a few hundred feet of the target altitude. Since I had no instruments in front of me it wasn't too bad. I have never flown from the right side, at least not in years, so that was interesting in and of itself. We cruised at 50% power showing about 140kts of indicated airspeed (fast plane!). We went north to the HCM VOR, let the autopilot fly part of the JGG VOR approach and then went NE for a little while.
The side stick was not at all hard to get used to. Since I was using my right hand to fly it was working out some weak muscles, which grew tired after about 30 minutes, but it didn't feel weird. It was nice to not have a yoke blocking the instrument panel.
The MFD (multifunction display) was a beautiful thing. It had integrated traffic avoidance so we could see other transponder-equipped airplanes near-by. As expected, it was disturbing to know how many airplanes are flying around that you never see with your eyes. The traffic avoidance gear is a very nice thing. I was also surprised by the quality of the screens on the two Garmin GPS units - nice and high-res.
All too soon we were pointing back toward JGG to land. We hopped in the pattern, where half-flaps were put in. We landed with half-flaps (there were some crosswinds). The landing felt very fast right over the runway, I am used to the 172 landing speeds and the Cirrus comes in much quicker.
It was a great flight, one that I have wanted to do for quite a while - many thanks to Jim! It certainly made me realize that I'd like to own one someday.
BTW, I found a cool video of a flight in a Cirrus here, link courtesy of the Cirrus Owners and Pilot's Association forum.
As an added bonus to really make this an excellent flying day, I saw a flier for aerobatic demo flights in a Pitts Special available @ JGG - I plan to do that ASAP.
I also learned about a local guy that offers taildragger lessons for $50/hr. I have to do that too! :)
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