Flying an 'Older' Cirrus

labbadabba

labbadabba

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labbadabba
So, considering an option that could put me into a 2001 SR22. $85 a month, $215 wet.

It's a single screen Avidyne with a Sandel EHSI, a pair of GNS430s, STEC55x AP, and a NA IO550 up front.

Are older Cirri fundamentally any different than newer ones? Any pitfalls to be aware of?

Is that a pretty good rate? For me, it's a bit of sticker shock since I'm used to renting in the $130 range.

I fly about 5-10 hours a month and would see myself using the Cirrus for longer X/C and family trips. How much would I need to fly that thing to stay current?
 
Haven’t flown one that old, but generally speaking it is fairly similar. I fly a 2004 and a 2014 at work.

The build quality of the 2004 is better in general, but the door latches suck. You have to watch them closely to make sure they are latched. That is probably my biggest beef with the early model.

The newer ones have better door latches and more comfortable seats, but the build quality is shoddy.
 
The 2001 latches are actually better than the G2 and G3 latches. The plane does sit lower than newer ones. Otherwise they fly the same. Thats a great price too.
 
Sounds a bit steep for a plane of that vintage, but not crazy—more around $200 maybe.
 
Have you sat in that particular plane? I'm partial to Cirrus for exactly your type of mission, the longer XC type trips.. the reason I've asked if you sat in it is because I have seen some pretty rough older ones where the paint has UV damage and the interior is completely tattered to shreds

But that's all cosmetic

Otherwise I don't think $215 hr / wet is expensive for what you're getting. It is a lot more than what you'll pay for a Warrior or Skyhawk, and a 182 in many areas, but it's a great, stable ride, especially for the longer trips
 
Tantalum said:
Otherwise I don't think $215 hr / wet is expensive for what you're getting. It is a lot more than what you'll pay for a Warrior or Skyhawk, and a 182 in many areas, but it's a great, stable ride, especially for the longer trips
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Sound very reasonable. And don't forget, for any given trip, at 170 kts plus you'll be paying for far fewer hours than the same trip in the slower planes mentioned*.

Factoring everything in, its hard for an owner to fly an SR22 of any vintage for less than $200/hr all in. I can't see any profit at all renting it out at that price.


*Flying from S FL to N GA took about 5 hours in my Tiger, and 3.5 in my Cirrus. And a nod to Cirrus efficiency - it took slightly less fuel overall than the Tiger for that trip.
 
It sounds like a good deal that me. What are the check out requirements?
 
That's an excellent price on a SR22. I flew a 2002 for 4+ years. Skywatch and EMax are really nice if it has them. They are an excellent cross country plane, nice climb rate, cruise speed, wide cabin and two doors are quite nice. If you travel with others, passengers seem to like them.

I never had trouble with the door latches on the 2002, but have on a 2003/2004.

I'm working on putting together a partnership on one in Atlanta. I'd really like to get back into one.



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As far as the value, here is my limited perspective:

Plus One Flyers in San Diego has 3 SR22s for rent. Plus one is one of the biggest, if not the biggest club in the country (~1000 members).

Our dues are something like $35 per month.

The 2001 SR22 rents for $230/hr wet. The other two SR22s (newer, but not that much newer) rent for around $300/hour.

Because of the number of members and amount of flying the airplanes get, it’s hard to find cheaper rentals in the US.
 
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Our club's SR-20 with similar equipment, except for the smaller engine, rents for $184 wet.
 
How often would I need to fly that bird to stay current? I can afford to fly but I don't want to burn big rental bucks for proficiency sake when I can rent a 172 for $100.

Check out requirements are hourly mins and a sign-off from the chief CFI
 
labbadabba said:
How often would I need to fly that bird to stay current? I can afford to fly but I don't want to burn big rental bucks for proficiency sake when I can rent a 172 for $100.

Check out requirements are hourly mins and a sign-off from the chief CFI
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Current or proficient? Two different things. :)
 
You are going to want to fly a few hours a month if you can. We do IPC's every 6 months and I strongly recommend doing that as well. What I do - when I do not have passengers and it's IMC - I hand fly the take off, departure and up to cruise - I then go to A/P. When I start my approach I hand fly it again - that helps me stay proficient as well as the IPC.

I've flown all generations of Cirrus and they all fly the same. The older ones sit lower to the ground but that should not be an issue at all. It's easy to fall behind the plane if you don't stay on top of it - so just fly as often as you can and practice approaches, etc as often as you can.
 
The actual flying part is pretty conventional, and I don’t think one would get too stale over month-long layoffs, let’s say.

But the “buttonology” of any Cirrus can get very stale very fast. After a brief time away, I recall being unable to recall how to insert a waypoint into an existing flight plan on the Garmin 430 in my old Cirrus, it being very different from the 496 I had gotten used to in my Sky Arrow. The Perspective planes are probably at least as bad, if not worse.

None of which is a problem on a fair weather VFR day. IFR it could be a real hurdle.
 
labbadabba said:
So, considering an option that could put me into a 2001 SR22. $85 a month, $215 wet.

It's a single screen Avidyne with a Sandel EHSI, a pair of GNS430s, STEC55x AP, and a NA IO550 up front.

Are older Cirri fundamentally any different than newer ones? Any pitfalls to be aware of?

Is that a pretty good rate? For me, it's a bit of sticker shock since I'm used to renting in the $130 range.

I fly about 5-10 hours a month and would see myself using the Cirrus for longer X/C and family trips. How much would I need to fly that thing to stay current?
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I think you may find the cost to properly transition to a Cirrus may be more than you are anticipating.
 
labbadabba said:
Should I go the CSIP route?
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Personally, I would, yes. You get a lot more value out of the proper Cirrus transition than just a marketing gimmick. You learn a lot about how that airframe specifically handles near the edges of the envelope, and the transition flights are very valuable inin taki the bird through all its paces

However, a proper transition course is typically around 10 hours, so it is not cheap
 
That sounds like a good deal to me. The transition time would depend on what you are used to flying and if you are doing any IFR stuff or just VFR.
 
dell30rb said:
That sounds like a good deal to me. The transition time would depend on what you are used to flying and if you are doing any IFR stuff or just VFR.
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IFR. Typically fly 172s but also have a fair bit of time in G1000 DA40s and 182s.
 
denverpilot said:
Isn’t Cirrus still offering their free transition offer where they’ll pay the instructor or something like that for new and even used buyers?
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Yes - if you buy a new or used Cirrus you can get the free training. Not sure how that works in a club type ownership or if it even applies
 
EminiTrader said:
Yes - if you buy a new or used Cirrus you can get the free training. Not sure how that works in a club type ownership or if it even applies
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I think they changed it.

It used to say every owner of a recently purchased used Cirrus gets it. At least that's how it read to me. I checked as I was working on setting up a partnership for a SR22.

Plus they are now spelling it out that you have to own the aircraft or part of it, not just be part of a club with no ownership of the plane.

They must have received a lot of requests.
 
I don't recall exactly where I got this information, but I recall that in our case (group of three planning on purchasing a G1/early G2) there was a budget limit, which we would have to add some $$$ to in order to get everyone trained, but would be able to take the ground portion together. Ownership was required.
 
Those rates sound almost too good to be true. Do they include budgets for engine and avionics reserves, and a chute repack?


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