Is it fun to fly a Cirrus?

iamtheari

iamtheari

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Someone is trying to talk me into partnering on an SR22. I have no doubt that it is a more capable cross-country and IFR platform than the Arrow I fly now. It is definitely faster than the 130 KTAS I see in the Arrow. It probably takes more time to preflight the Cirrus so a short trip will not be faster, but on trips over 200nm the Cirrus would show its additional speed. And evidently you can get the SR22 to go 170+ KTAS at 13-14 gph running LOP. I see a little under 9 gph cruising ROP in the Arrow. So the fuel economy is comparable between the two planes. The Cirrus just costs more for other things. But one can find a hundred threads about all that.

Is it actually fun to fly the thing, in terms of stick and rudder, or is it just a traveling machine?
 
It's an airplane designed to kick on the autopilot and follow the magenta line from just after takeoff till minimums. Some people love that others hate it.
 
My experience is approximately 5 hours in Arrows (getting my complex endorsement and some IR work) and 1/2 hour in a Cirrus SR22T. So weigh this accordingly.

The Cirrus is a rocket ship by comparison. And I had a blast in it. I think it's very fun to fly compared to an Arrow. (And, for the record, I liked the Arrow as well.)

John
 
It's fun as hell to fly. I think it's easy, intuitive, and responsive. Try a test flight with a club or CSIP or current owner if you can.
 
jsstevens said:
The Cirrus is a rocket ship by comparison. And I had a blast in it. I think it's very fun to fly compared to an Arrow. (And, for the record, I liked the Arrow as well.)
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The Arrow is definitely fun to fly. Not as fun as the J-3 Cub, but it's still perfectly fun to just fly around aimlessly or to go somewhere not close by and then fly a little lower and slower to check things out. "Low and slow" seems to be dangerous in the Cirrus airframe, but maybe that's due to the pilot rather than the plane.

MetalCloud said:
It's fun as hell to fly. I think it's easy, intuitive, and responsive. Try a test flight with a club or CSIP or current owner if you can.
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Yet another reason to take a little trip to Phoenix this winter. There are a few Cirrus planes with what appear to be reasonable rates for getting checked out in around the city and then my worst-case outcome is having a rental available to get around when I'm down there in the future.
 
To OP,

Yes.

Edit: It has one hell of a roll rate.
 
There's nothing magical about it - it's an airplane, just like your Arrow. And all the bells and whistles that make it a great cross country machine can be turned off for tooling around, if that's what you're looking to do. I had fun in it, and as others mentioned it'll definitely feel like a little rocket ship compared to what you're used to.

For me personally, it was the cost that made it feel 'less fun' and more like a traveling tool. I feel a lot better dicking around aimlessly at $110/hr than over twice that. But that's not the airplane's fault, just my pocketbook's. :)
 
I flew 6PCs SR22 and it was light and nimble, very easy to fly, comfortable, and fast. I enjoyed it a lot.

If it was a 6 place I'd prolly buy one.
 
Unit74 said:
I flew 6PCs SR22 and it was light and nimble, very easy to fly, comfortable, and fast. I enjoyed it a lot.

If it was a 6 place I'd prolly buy one.
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So other than the shooting, how was the play Mrs Lincoln? :D
 
If you travel the SR22 is much better. I have 140+ hrs in an Arrow and 378 hrs in an SR22. Little difference in preflight, maybe a little quicker in the SR22 as the Arrow is retract and the gear needs to be checked.

Not only is the SR22 faster, but it climbs much quicker too. Two doors makes loading easier. No yoke makes the front seats feel more spacious. My non-pilot passengers really like not having a yoke in front of them.

Very nice avionics in an SR22. An Arrow can have nice avionics too.

I mostly flew a 2002 SR22. It had 1100+ lbs of useful load. It trued out at 170 knots at ~12-12.5 GPH LOP.
 
You'll have to recalibrate your brain a little to stay ahead of the plane...a 30 percent faster cruise is a big change. A good problem to have!
 
I'm test flying one tomorrow. Could be an expensive day. Thank goodness it's a turbo or I might have just bought the damn thing. If I get one it will be a NA for the east coast flying I do
 
mulligan said:
I'm test flying one tomorrow. Could be an expensive day. Thank goodness it's a turbo or I might have just bought the damn thing. If I get one it will be a NA for the east coast flying I do
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Turbo will get you above a lot of weather. Jes sayin. And that myth about turbos being more expensive is BS. It's how to run it, not the system itself.
 
I regularly fly a 2015 22 and it's the most comfortable plane I've flown. My student is getting a new one and should take delivery in March. XM radio, weather, comfortable leather seats, heat and air conditioning. What's not to love?
 
jordane93 said:
I regularly fly a 2015 22 and it's the most comfortable plane I've flown. My student is getting a new one and should take delivery in March. XM radio, weather, comfortable leather seats, heat and air conditioning. What's not to love?
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That's all very lovable, indeed, for a cross country trip. But is it fun to hand-fly? Can you comfortably do any kind of flying other than cross country trips? Are you begging for a prop strike or damaged landing gear if you land on grass, or asking for a fatal spin into the ground if you try to circle over a field to see how the crop is doing? Etc.
 
iamtheari said:
That's all very lovable, indeed, for a cross country trip. But is it fun to hand-fly? Can you comfortably do any kind of flying other than cross country trips? Are you begging for a prop strike or damaged landing gear if you land on grass, or asking for a fatal spin into the ground if you try to circle over a field to see how the crop is doing? Etc.
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I hand fly it all the time. I do short hops in it frequently but it really shines as a cross county machine. It's what you make of it. You can hand fly it all you want or throw on the autopilot at 1000ft and not take it off until minimums.
 
It's not fun at all, that's why it has the red handle - so you can end it quicker.
(sorry, I just saw a Cirrus thread with no red handle references...)
 
Never got the chance to fly a Cirrus yet, how many stumps to check on the SR22?
 
midcap said:
Fun is subjective.
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Good point. Depends on who you are, what else you've flown, and a bunch of other factors. I've flown about 30 different makes and models and they were all fun to fly. Some, of course, result in longer lasting smiles than others, at least for certain flights.
 
iamtheari said:
That's all very lovable, indeed, for a cross country trip. But is it fun to hand-fly? Can you comfortably do any kind of flying other than cross country trips? Are you begging for a prop strike or damaged landing gear if you land on grass, or asking for a fatal spin into the ground if you try to circle over a field to see how the crop is doing? Etc.
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Yes, it is fun to hand fly. Quite responsive to very slight wrist movements on the controls. I doubt it works that well as a crop duster and I'm not sure how well it would work counting heads of cattle at low altitude but, having done falling leaf stalls in a Cirrus, I doubt a stall spin is any more likely than in a lot of other makes and models.

Again, I guess it depends on ones personal definition of "fun."
 
For fun I'd want a plane that stall spins well, spins are great fun.
 
Every, and I mean every, plane I've ever flown has been flying. From Cubs and Stearmans to CRJ900. If you're not enjoying it why bother?

Never have flown or been near a Cirrus (well saw one takeoff lol), does it two joysticks up front, duel controls?
 
mscard88 said:
Every, and I mean every, plane I've ever flown has been flying. From Cubs and Stearmans to CRJ900. If you're not enjoying it why bother?

Never have flown or been near a Cirrus (well saw one takeoff lol), does it two joysticks up front, duel controls?
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Only if pilot and copilot disagree.
 
So....what's your definition of fun?

btw...you can't feel the difference in speed, trust me. I do 200 knots in the Bonanza and it feels the same as 130 in the Six. :D
 
mscard88 said:
Every, and I mean every, plane I've ever flown has been flying. From Cubs and Stearmans to CRJ900. If you're not enjoying it why bother?

Never have flown or been near a Cirrus (well saw one takeoff lol), does it two joysticks up front, duel controls?
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Not joysticks. My understanding of the Cirrus side stick is that it twists left and right for ailerons and the shaft slides forward and backward for the elevator. So instead of a joystick like an Airbus has, you basically have a normal yoke shaft way off to the side, with a verticalish stick clamped onto it instead of a yoke. A flight instructor I talked to who had been giving some recurrent training in an SR20 said the side stick was different from anything else but not hard to get used to.

I agree, flying anything is more fun than being down here on the ground. But we all have different ideas of what's fun. I truly cannot understand how anyone gets pleasure from driving on an oval race track, around and around, much less watching it. But I find zen in driving a road course, with turns in all directions, with its challenges and rewards when you get it right. I haven't flown front seat in a CRJ or any other jet, so I don't know if that would be fun for me.

Checkout_my_Six said:
So....what's your definition of fun?

btw...you can't feel the difference in speed, trust me. I do 200 knots in the Bonanza and it feels the same as 130 in the Six. :D
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By contrast, I can tell the difference between 65 knots in the Cub and 130 in the Arrow. It's pretty easy...count to 10 and look to see if you've moved or not.

My definition of fun is that you feel the connection between the controls and the airplane, feel good when you get it right, and only feel a little bit bad when you get it wrong.
 
iamtheari said:
Someone is trying to talk me into partnering on an SR22. I have no doubt that it is a more capable cross-country and IFR platform than the Arrow I fly now. It is definitely faster than the 130 KTAS I see in the Arrow. It probably takes more time to preflight the Cirrus so a short trip will not be faster, but on trips over 200nm the Cirrus would show its additional speed. And evidently you can get the SR22 to go 170+ KTAS at 13-14 gph running LOP. I see a little under 9 gph cruising ROP in the Arrow. So the fuel economy is comparable between the two planes. The Cirrus just costs more for other things. But one can find a hundred threads about all that.

Is it actually fun to fly the thing, in terms of stick and rudder, or is it just a traveling machine?
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I wouldn't call it a fun to fly airplane. But neither is your Arrow. They're both pretty blah.

The Cirrus will be a better traveling machine. Better ventilation and heat, better seats, faster, higher wing loading so it does not get kicked around as much in the bumps.
 
All airplanes are "fun" to fly, but some more than others.

I have time in both Arrows and SR20s (no 22s so far), and they are built for traveling as most have said. In my opinion, the Cirrus was definitely not a fun stick and rudder airplane, but nor is the Arrow. Actually, I think the Arrow has better control feel than the SR20 at least, because you're not fighting the trim springs behind the panel. If you want a fun airplane, get a Cub, biplane or seaplane. If you want to travel, the Cirrus is built for it.

In terms of landing on grass or circling your crops, it has way more to do with your technique and skill than the airplane. I have landed one on a nice grass strip, and plenty of maneuvering, without issue.
 
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iamtheari said:
Not joysticks. My understanding of the Cirrus side stick is that it twists left and right for ailerons and the shaft slides forward and backward for the elevator. So instead of a joystick like an Airbus has, you basically have a normal yoke shaft way off to the side, with a verticalish stick clamped onto it instead of a yoke. A flight instructor I talked to who had been giving some recurrent training in an SR20 said the side stick was different from anything else but not hard to get used to.

I agree, flying anything is more fun than being down here on the ground. But we all have different ideas of what's fun. I truly cannot understand how anyone gets pleasure from driving on an oval race track, around and around, much less watching it. But I find zen in driving a road course, with turns in all directions, with its challenges and rewards when you get it right. I haven't flown front seat in a CRJ or any other jet, so I don't know if that would be fun for me.


By contrast, I can tell the difference between 65 knots in the Cub and 130 in the Arrow. It's pretty easy...count to 10 and look to see if you've moved or not.

My definition of fun is that you feel the connection between the controls and the airplane, feel good when you get it right, and only feel a little bit bad when you get it wrong.
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Woah really? The joystick twists for ailerons? Not side to side? Wow that seems super weird lol...feel like that would take a while to get used to.
 
CC268 said:
Woah really? The joystick twists for ailerons? Not side to side? Wow that seems super weird lol...feel like that would take a while to get used to.
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Here's a video with a good angle on one:
 
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