Cirrus transition training

[Jeanie]

I have a doctor student who talked tonight about maybe renting a cirrus or some program of leasing it for a while.... Ok fine, I'm up for a new learning curve. What would be involved in my doing some transition training in one and about how many hrs would it take? I'm used to cessnas and a super decathlon, and some mooney time.
He also found a place that has pipers for rent.... He's just looking at lots of different planes so he can decide which one to buy.
The first conversation we had involved him saying he wants a multi. I think I have finally convinced him not to do that!

And, yes, he's a primary student with about 5 hrs........

 

[MachFly]

It's been a few years since I flew The SR-20 but I can tell you a few things. It's certainly not the east plane to get used to but it's not a big pain in the *** either. Most people have hard time getting used to the avionics (most are glass cockpit), but if you flown something with a glass cockpit before it should not be a problem.
Some people don't really like the side stick, I personally love it.
Majority of the people transitioning from a 172 type airplane with round gauges take 10 hours. But I think most of that time is spend on getting used to the avionics.

Since you said he has 5 hours of total flight time I have no idea how long it would take him. I'm not a CFI and don't have much experience teaching.

Is he transitioning to the SR-20 or SR-22?

The first conversation we had involved him saying he wants a multi. I think I have finally convinced him not to do that!

Yeah, that's not the best idea with 5 hours...
Just out of curiosity, how did you convince him?

 

[taters]

The insurance will determine the minimum..but it has come down a bit since the Cirrus has come out. A general transition could be made in 10-20 hours. Beside the glass cockpit, the speed, engine management, and high-performance characteristics will take some getting used to ...especially if coming from the Cessna world . Have him take a demo ride and see what he thinks. I am doing transition training for a gent who is trading his bonanza for an SR-22...I figure about 10 hours will work for him.

 

[Jeanie]

I'm talking transition training for me to then be able to teach him!

As far as how to deal with his want of a multi it went like this:

I talked with him about the multi thing at least 4 or 5 times and used different approaches to get the message across. The first conversation had to do with doctors buying planes that were too much for them and then killing themselves and their family -his wife is 8 mos pregnant and they have a 2 hr old too.... One of the other talks involved the reality of insurance costs if he could even get any insurance. The last one was practical in a different way... I asked him if he scrubbed into surgery as a freshman in college, "no", ok so when did you start doing surgery?.... In the world of planes you are just now taking anatomy and physiology- and you haven't even gotten to the cranial nerves yet. That seemed to sink in. and then the first time we did stalls I showed him a power on stall and had him do one and I didn't help him with it like I would normally do. The window full of ground got his attention and I explained that this is a docile, low powered stable training plane and that multis are about 3000 times trickier (I exaggerated a little) and that he needs to understand that at this point in his training he doesn't yet know what he doesn't know and maybe he should just believe me. I have also enlisted another ER doc who is a friend of mine to talk with him.

And before anyone crucifies me for scaring a student with the stall thing, really it was ok and we did several more and he was fine.

 

[poadeleted20]

I'm in the middle of training on the SR22 with the Perspective system. The big question for someone who's a competent light plane pilot is not the airframe, but rather the avionics. Anyone familiar with a Garmin 430 will nave no trouble getting into a steam gauge Cirrus. OTOH, you ain't gonna just jump into a Perspective aircraft and fly it into the weather after a 45 minute checkout. Cirrus has plenty of training materials and syllabi based on the trainee's previous experience, but they all involve several full days of work.

For you to be an effective instructor on airframe and systems, you probably need to do the full Cirrus Standardized Instructor course, and that takes a week or so full time including ground and flight training. And insurers are often pretty hardcover on initial Cirrus training coming from a CSIP instructor.

 

[MachFly]

I'm talking transition training for me to then be able to teach him!

Oh, I'm sure you would not have any trouble. If your familiar with the glass cockpit it will take less than 5 hours. But you might want to spend some more time just flying it if your going to teach in it.

As far as how to deal with his want of a multi it went like this:

I talked with him about the multi thing at least 4 or 5 times and used different approaches to get the message across. The first conversation had to do with doctors buying planes that were too much for them and then killing themselves and their family -his wife is 8 mos pregnant and they have a 2 hr old too.... One of the other talks involved the reality of insurance costs if he could even get any insurance. The last one was practical in a different way... I asked him if he scrubbed into surgery as a freshman in college, "no", ok so when did you start doing surgery?.... In the world of planes you are just now taking anatomy and physiology- and you haven't even gotten to the cranial nerves yet. That seemed to sink in. and then the first time we did stalls I showed him a power on stall and had him do one and I didn't help him with it like I would normally do. The window full of ground got his attention and I explained that this is a docile, low powered stable training plane and that multis are about 3000 times trickier (I exaggerated a little) and that he needs to understand that at this point in his training he doesn't yet know what he doesn't know and maybe he should just believe me. I have also enlisted another ER doc who is a friend of mine to talk with him.

And before anyone crucifies me for scaring a student with the stall thing, really it was ok and we did several more and he was fine.

The thing that kept me away from the twins until I got to the DA42 was the single engine climb rate. I live in the mountains and most twins here have the service ceiling bellow the ground level. So to me flying a twin that can't climb on a single engine decreases reliability, the odds of loosing an engine if you have two is a lot higher than if you have only one.

Also if your going to need to tell him anything more explain how "easy" it is to recover a twin from a spin. But your right, it looks like he already agreed.

 

[woodstock]

The insurance will determine the minimum..but it has come down a bit since the Cirrus has come out. A general transition could be made in 10-20 hours. Beside the glass cockpit, the speed, engine management, and high-performance characteristics will take some getting used to ...especially if coming from the Cessna world . Have him take a demo ride and see what he thinks. I am doing transition training for a gent who is trading his bonanza for an SR-22...I figure about 10 hours will work for him.

So now I don't feel so bad. First flight in FOUR years today. Last planes were cessnas with steam gauges. cirrus sr20. I felt like I spent the whole flight with my head inside. So much going on.

 

[Dean]

I have a friend who has a new SR22, they did their training at the factory when they took delivery.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Jeanie, your issue may be whether your instruction would count for insurance purposes without you being a CSIP (forget what the acronym stands for , but it's a certified Cirrus instructor). You'll want to check on that and, if so, you'll need to find out what your commitment is to become one.