I can finally say that I have been up in a Cirrus SR22. I went up with an instructor who was great. The flight school normally rents out the airplane. So now I understand why people want to purchase instead of rent. Whomever I suggested to rent...I'm sorry, like renting a used car from a rental agency people don't normally take care of it once in possession of the plane so for that I apologize go out and get your own plane. So anyway I checked the oil and it only had 4 quarts in the engine and what I noticed right away was the oil was BLACK...like midnight without any lights Black. I knew right away that the airplane needed oil and not only that an oil change so without much gripe we put oil in, (At LEAST 6 quarts are needed) we did a COMPLETE pre flight check. We also noticed that the wheel fairing was gone but maintenance is currently working on it. The CFI told me that someone spun out the Cirrus after a landing.....Geez again did I say buy our own plane if you can? I would like to add none of what I found affected The SR22 any.
When opening the doors you press the button and lift the door up similar to opening Lamborghini doors. Getting in the plane was the easiest that I have had in General Aviation so far you somewhat "fall in" and sit down, the seating is really comfortable and great for long trips you can move the seat forward and backward which is common. You can also move the back support part up and down as well which was awesome.
The shoulder harness really keeps you in the seat. I must've had it too tight because I felt myself struggling to slightly get off the seat a little to look for traffic. I will loosen up the belt a little next time. The doors close very well with little effort but I did have some trouble opening the door. There is a little black tab that you have to really give it a pull to get the door open but these are just minor inconveniences to what this bird can do.
After the run up we get cleared and you take off with 50% flaps. The SR22 is NOT under-powered at all it gets to 70 knots to rotate VERY quickly that 550 really moves the bird. You can also take off and land with the A/C on although it was cold here I didn't have the need to use it. The A/C is an added blessing especially here in Florida.
Another great thing about the Cirrus is the Autopilot off and the trim button on the yoke. In the Cessna 172 and Piper Archer the trim wheel is on the right side either on the panel or next to the flaps bar, (Piper). The Side Yoke was a little different but not hard at all to get use to. I normally fly with one hand on the yoke anyway so the transition was pretty smooth. I also noticed how sensitive the controls are compared to the Piper and Cessna very little effort is needed to turn the airplane.
Did I say this plane was FAST!! I was getting ground speeds of over 170kts with a tailwind and it felt very smooth to do so.
The Autopilot was amazing as well. You can set the altitude, heading and you can adjust your direction by turning the HDG button left or right without touching the yoke. There was a myth in POA that the Cirrus is difficult to slow down. That is not true at all reducing power and slightly increasing altitude slows the plane down pretty quickly.
My final take:
The Cirrus SR22 like most mentioned is an amazing airplane but you can have a sense of being a pilot when you are really not. You can preset your destination, You can take off, set the altitude and the heading press the autopilot and just watch for traffic and it will fly better than the average person without trimming, straight on the magenta line in my opinion that takes away from REAL flying. Sure, you can learn how to fly in a Cirrus and hopefully your CFI will give you a concrete flying foundation to draw from, (No button pressing until after you learn how to fly). The Cirrus...in my opinion lacks the feel of flying and this is hard to explain. I don't feel what the airplane is about to do until it's done it already. It might be because I'm not use to the extra speed because lets face it it's twice as fast as a Cessna 172 you can't tell if you are going 100 kts or 178 kts. The Cirrus is a great airplane to get somewhere if I wanted to go from here to Key West, (235 nm) it's a little over an hour depending on the winds but it does lack IMO flying feel so TRUE pilots would be a little disappointed. Family airplane that would get the spouse and son/daughter somewhere....you bet. So that is my perspective with my limited flight experience.
