Fun Flight Review today (Cirrus-related)

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
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11,496
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Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
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Fast Eddie B
I was due, and hooked up with a friend, Trip Taylor. I had met him on COPA back in 2003, and he was nice enough to demo his Cirrus to me when we both lived in S FL. We've remained friends, and even did CSIP training together in Duluth. He's remained very active in the Cirrus instruction world, while I eventually stepped up to Light Sport. We'll eventually be neighbors at Big T Airport in Lenoir City.

His plane is a 2005 SR22 Turbo, upgraded to Avidyne R9 avionics and freshened up with a gorgeous paint job.

Overall, I was pleased with the flight. I had not flown a Cirrus since September of 2010, so I was very rusty on the "buttonology" - not surprising since I've never flown behind the R9 suite. So I was always quite a bit behind on which button to push when, and kind of overwhelmed by the amount of data presented on the two screens:

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Realistically, I think it would take me 5 or 6 hours of instruction on the avionics to get comfortable enough to solo, even VFR. Though if I cheated and just used my 496 or iPad/iphone to navigate I could probably manage a VFR crosscountry now in a pinch.

We flew from Copperhill over to Dalton, GA and did a bunch of touch and goes. A couple regular, a soft field, a short field and a power off. All went really well - better than I had hoped. Then did some airwork and returned to Copperhill for another power off approach and landing.

Anyway, nice spending time with an old friend and again sampling how the other half lives!

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How do you like the R9 suite? I only have about 10 hours in the Avidyne avionics. I much prefer the Cirrus Perspective.
 
jordane93 said:
How do you like the R9 suite? I only have about 10 hours in the Avidyne avionics. I much prefer the Cirrus Perspective.
Click to expand...

Not enough exposure to say.

My 2003 had an Avidyne suite, which I found very intuitive. The Garmin 430 quite a bit less so. I only recall one flight in a Perspective Cirrus, and at least initially it was totally NON-intuitive. R9 is supposed to be much better in that regard, but it would still take time and effort for me to get comfortable with it. I’m sure I could adjust to either, but it’s not the kind of thing where you just jump in and go.
 
The Perspective system grows on you, there is a learning curve though, but it does everything you need and more, quite impressive actually. I have no experience with the R9 but that looks pretty impressive also.
 
I asked a question on the COPA forum about instrument training in a Cirrus, and Trip Taylor took the time to write a very thorough and helpful answer. You’re fortunate to have him as a friend and neighbor.
 
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