I took the plunge last week - the introductory flight in the Cirrus SR20. What an amazing ride. From the glass cockpit, single power lever, to the sidesetick control, it was an incredible introduction to the future of piston aircraft. Nothing I have flown has ever been that easy and that smooth off the runway. Light and responsive controls made the basic maneuvers (steep turns, power-on and power-off stalls (little bit of drop-off)) second nature. Just remember to keep no more than 5 degrees of pitch attitude on takeoff and then fly it right onto the runway (stabilized approach is a must).
The primary flight display coupled to an autopilot that can actually teach you how to fly the plane smoothly was amazing. I was delighted with the uncanny accuracy of the traffic avoidance system and the huge MFD with everything: check lists, moving map, and engine analyzer etc.. (On run-up, the engine analyzer caught the slightly fouled left mag on the number 6 cylinder - unbelievable. We ran up the rpm's and cleared the problem by the time we were cleared for departure.) An hour and a half and five take-offs and landings later, I was totally hooked.
9:00:27 PM
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