My mentor for the day's flying would be Cirrus Design's Gary Black, who had formerly flown F-14s for the US Navy. As we commenced the pre-flight inspection, Gary talked me through the many differences between the SR22 and the SR20. Starting at the spinner, the 22 uses the same three-blade constant-speed hub as the 200hp SR20 that I had flown previously (see Today's Pilot, September 2001) but it is fitted with the blades from the SR20's optional two-blade hub. And of course, this time it is turned by a much more powerful Teledyne-Continental IO-550-N, which produces 310hp at 2,700rpm. Other marked differences were that the cowl is now a three-piece unit and that the two long, tuned exhausts have also been removed and replaced by a much stubbier exhaust system.

Obviously the far more powerful engine would produce a lot more heat, and as the light on the SR20 is actually inside the cowl, it had to go. While the Cirrus design engineers were working on the cowl they also enlarged and redesigned the cowl inlets in order to ensure that the big air-cooled engine was getting enough air. For an aircraft that is quite clearly a serious day or night travelling machine, I was slightly surprised to see that it only had one landing light, which has been relocated to just below and slightly offset from the spinner. Now, this isn't to say that the single light is ineffective far from it, as it is a high intensity discharge (HID) bulb. It's just that if the light does fail there's no back-up. I found this rather surprising, as the rest of the aircraft has plenty of redundancy, and when I mentioned this to Gary he agreed that he would prefer to see a landing light mounted in each wing. I subsequently read that these new HID bulbs are extremely reliable, but nevertheless I would still prefer to see two landing lights!

Something else that I had spotted was the pair of small ventral fins protruding from either side of the fuselage just forward of the wing root. Closer inspection revealed them to be vortex generators, which as well as improving low-speed handling also ensure that as the wing approaches the stall, the airflow initially separates at the root and then propagates outboard to the tips. As I was soon to discover, this makes sure that the ailerons continue to work after the mainplane has stalled. Of course, the same effect can be achieved with wash-out, but then the aerofoil would not be optimised for the cruise.

As we began walking around the aircraft, I began to get the impression that the 22 is actually taller than the 20. Gary then confirmed that the main undercarriage legs are about three inches taller to improve prop clearance. They have also been relocated by being moved inboard slightly. As we reached the wing tip, I immediately noticed that the 22's wingspan has increased (by 18 inches a side), while Gary revealed that the wing has also been moved aft 3 inches to compensate for the changes to the C of G caused by the heavier engine. The bigger engine obviously requires more fuel, and a combination of more fuel, a longer wingspan and a heavier maximum take-off weight (up 500lb to 3,400lb) all lead inevitably to a stronger main spar. Moving towards the tail, I noted the electric rudder trim tab, while Gary pointed out that the angle of incidence of the tailplane has been changed and that the elevator horn has been redesigned. Another feature that caught my eye was the static port, which has an intriguing step cut into it. Gary told me that the static port was his own design, and he proudly reported that its new configuration has almost entirely eliminated any position errors in the pitot/static system.

Happily, the level of build quality, that had so impressed me with the SR20, has been maintained with the 22. As befits an aircraft that has been designed to cruise relatively fast, all three wheels are closely spatted and this careful attention to drag reduction also means that the aileron gaps are sealed.

The fuselage and cabin is essentially the same as on the SR20, and regular readers of Today's Pilot will already be aware that I'm a fan of every aspect of its design, including the ease of access and the extremely comfortable seats. These really are superb, and very well thought out. The front seats adjust fore and aft over a good range, and the seat tracks have been arranged in such a way that as the seats move forwards they also angle upward slightly. This ensures that shorter people are positioned slightly higher as the seat moves forward, which helps to improve their lookout. Another thoughtful touch a grab handle is situated above the windshield to make it easier to move the seat.

The aircraft's other occupants are equally well served. Each is provided with a cup holder and headset socket, and underneath the armrest, between the two front seats, is a very useful storage compartment.

The cabin really is very large for a four-seat aircraft, and provides plenty of room for four large adults. And it is worth noting that the backs of the back seats can be folded forwards to facilitate carriage of any bulky objects that would extend forwards from the baggage bay. Finally, the small skylight set into the roof really does help to make the cabin brighter than most other four-seat aircraft.

The SR22 also retains the sidestick system (Cirrus actually call it a sideyoke, as, like a yoke, it slides in and out, rather than pivoting, for pitch control) although, the electric rudder trim is new. I was quite pleased to see this, as I felt that the 20 could also have benefited from having rudder trim. Interestingly I subsequently learned that the yaw trimmer has been deleted from the design by popular demand, so what do I know? Perhaps I'm just lazy!

The instrument panel is the same design, although the SR22 is supplied with an even more impressive avionics suite than the one that graces the panel of the SR20. Two avionics options are available, although I imagine that most people will probably opt for the more comprehensive 'B' package. This consists of dual Garmin GNS 430s, plus a Garmin transponder and audio panel, a Sandel 3308 EHSI and an S-Tec/Meggitt 55X autopilot with altitude preselect. The panel is dominated by a large (10.5in diagonal) and easy-to-read and operate Avidyne EX5000C multi-function display. This awesome piece of avionics can display an incredible amount of information and can be connected to the WX-500 Stormscope and Goodrich's Skywatch collision avoidance system. Going by current trends in the avionics industry, I imagine that it won't be long before even more information (such as uplinked weather forecasts and actual weather observations) can be displayed by the EX5000C. All in all, an extremely well-designed cockpit and an object lesson in thoughtful ergonomics.

"But hang on Dave" I hear you cry, "this can't be true! Surely you found something you didn't like, even if it was only the colour of the interior?" Yeah well, you're right. I still don't like where the fuel gauge is (it is between the seats, and it really should be on the panel) and personally I still prefer to have a direct vision panel. Finally, I think that perhaps the parking brake knob could be better placed, although I believe that the engineers at Duluth are already looking at this.

The engine started first time and having brought the Cirrus's incredibly powerful avionics suite on-line, it was easy to scroll through the various frequencies and copy the ATIS before talking to ground control. A little bit of power eased us out of our parking spot and we were soon trundling towards the active runway. I've always preferred nosewheel steering over a castoring nosewheel, but the SR22 really does taxi very well with only the occasional dab on the nicely progressive toe brakes required to track the centreline.

Out at the run-up point, I went through the pre take-off checklist. On the Cirrus, this is very easy, as the checklist is displayed on the ICDS screen. As each item is dealt with, you simply check it off by pressing a button, before moving on. The 'to do' items change colour when they are 'done', so even if you are momentarily distracted (for example, by a call from the tower) it is readily apparent where you had got to on the checklist. An intelligent, intuitive system!

The 22 uses the same three-blade constant-speed hub as the 200hp SR20 that I had flown previously (see Today's Pilot, September 2001) but it is fitted with the blades from the SR20's optional two-blade hub. It is also fitted with the same CAPS ballistic recovery system, although a slightly larger parachute is fitted.
As I mentioned earlier, Gary used to fly Tomcats for the US Navy, and I think that he rather views the CAPS in much the same light as an ejection seat. He would rather not have to pull the handle, but if the situation really is irrevocable, it's nice to have one more roll of the dice! As far as I am aware, no one has yet pulled the handle 'in anger', but with more than 200 Cirrus SR20s and SR22s now flying, I guess it's only a matter of time...

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