The new LATCH child- restraint system also has been added in 2012. In truth, three full-size adults would find it overly cozy, but a couple with a child or three average teenagers would be comfortable. One major enhancement to the 2012 SR22T is the three-seat rear space, allowing three people in back and two up front. I’m not a big guy, of course, but the rear space is positively cavernous. When Cirrus conceived the airplane, they started with a sphere instead of a rectangle, so the interior vibe is completely different from, say, a Mooney, where the rear cabin can be claustrophobic. One of the most impressive features of the SR22 is the enormous cabin. I offered a quick plea to the aviation gods to anoint me with a decent performance as I sat down on the buttery-leather seats and took in the new-plane smell.īy now everyone has seen a Cirrus, and the company recently celebrated their 5,000th airplane. My biplane-honed skills would be fairly useless on this flight, and I was rusty, to boot. Our flight would take us from John Wayne Airport in Southern California up to the Bay Area for a photo session around the Golden Gate Bridge.

Both are experienced Cirrus pilots, so I felt out of place as they offered the left seat to me. The Cirrus seduced me over the course of a San Francisco adventure, slowly transforming each of my objections into a chin-rubbing understanding of why this airplane deserves a place right next to that venerable Cub.Īlong with me for this mini odyssey was Cirrus’ own Matt Bergwall and Plane & Pilot editor Jessica Ambats.

That was before the brand-new SR22 charmed me like Audrey Hepburn riding her Vespa scooter in that scene from Roman Holiday. Cross-Country Adventure Already one of the most advanced glass-panel systems, the 2012 Garmin Perspective adds integrated satellite phone, global weather and SMS text messaging, along with the new GMA 350 audio panel with 3D audio.

I wondered what all the hoopla was about. The technology was surely dumbing down the aviating experience, and only “airplane drivers” (and not real pilots) would like such an airplane. Standing firmly in the stick-and-rudder-and-tailwheel camp, my instincts told me the Cirrus couldn’t be a “real” airplane. The company’s dogged pursuit of innovation in safety is equal only to its revolutionary advances in design, construction and performance, and it’s these advances that have fueled the passionate arguments. What’s interesting is that this Cirrus has sparked so passionate a reaction. Any fair review of an aircraft like the newest SR22T has to include both sides of the like/dislike argument. That’s not to say everybody has embraced the Cirrus design aesthetic. These aircraft have turned GA on its side. Since 1994, when a nascent company named “Cirrus Design” unveiled a revolutionary airplane called the SR20, that list has grown to include the SR22 and SR22T. These aircraft led GA in a new direction the minute they were introduced. Looking back, designs like the Cessna 172, the Beechcraft Bonanza, Piper Cub, Mooney M20 and a handful of others have changed the way aviators-and outsiders-perceive general aviation. Single-lever performance adjustment means there’s no propeller control. Rated at a conservative 315 hp, the Continental TSIO-550-K factory-turbocharged engine is limited at 2,500 rpm, giving the engine a smoother feel and making the cabin even quieter while reducing its noise footprint.

Cirrus sr22 carbon interiors