3/31/2024 0 Comments 2017 cirrus sr22 interiorMore than a decade after the introduction to the Part 23 world of the whole airplane recovery parachute system, the very concept remains controversial. Yet others felt it would give pilots too much emotional license to do things in an airplane they might otherwise not do. Others didn’t like that it was a standard and required feature. Some pilots complained that the Chute was used to satisfy the airplane’s spin requirements. Of course, the feature that got the most ink was the one you can’t see, the Chute. A composite, fixed-gear high-performance beauty, the ’22 was an immediate sales success. The first Cirrus SR22 was a big departure from conventional piston singles. Here’s a look at some of the milestones on the SR22’s remarkably innovative march through the decade. It’s true that customers are getting a lot more airplane in the deal, and it’s also true that Cirrus has learned a thing or two about how much they have to charge to make money on an airplane. Today’s is around $700,000, a more than three-fold increase. The first Cirrus SR22 was priced preposterously low, at less than $200,000. It has a stronger, faster, lighter wing with more fuel capacity, better, more durable gear, a near state-of-the-art avionics suite, synthetic and enhanced vision options, and more. While it looks similar to the first model, today’s Cirrus SR22 is better in nearly every respect. It would also turn out to be the most successful single in the world, at least for a time, outselling every other piston single (or twin, for that matter) despite being one of the most expensive models available. It was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get airplane. No air conditioning, no TKS, no flat-panels. Those early airplanes also had few options. They used side-yokes, as I mention in the main story, differential braking and a rudder/aileron interconnect (gone on today’s models), all of which gave it, for better or for worse, a distinctive feel. They also felt very different from most other light airplanes because they were, well, different from them in many important regards. In part, that’s because they were light, and in part that’s because Cirrus has learned over the years how to make an airplane be both substantial feeling, which we pilots like, while staying light. Like early models of many well-known airplane types, the first Cirrus SR22s felt lighter than they do today.
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