Wayne Cease

Really. They are stepping on Google, Apple and Microsoft's business of spying on us. Wayne

There are plenty of 310 hp NA IO-550 engines. Going to 350 hp is just under 13% more hp. That shouldn't be too hard. More hp, more heat though. Wayne

I have heard Cirrus owners say that. They don't want to dead stick it in as they'd be on the hook for a new engine. Pull the chute, then the insurance company sends them a check and they get to go plane shopping again. From the insurance company's perspective that's fine. Its reducing their risk. Everyone has walked away from a chute pull inside the parameters. Not everyone walks away from a dead stick landing. And one can do more damage to things on the ground with a bad dead stick landing. So a chute pull limits their pay-out potential. Wayne

Generally speaking, yes. Definitely from an insurance perspective. There have bee about 20 Cirrus planes that have been brought back to service after a chute pull. Wayne

Yes. It was well outside the parameters. Low overcast with mist and near freezing temps by a VFR pilot. There are questions about whether the chute was fired off on impact or after he got below the clouds. It was a very high energy impact. Radar showed a 2,500 fpm climb followed by a 3,600 fpm descent just before the crash. Wayne

I was surprised how fast I got used to the side stick. Years ago when I did the Cirrus Transition program I thought it would take several hours. When I got done with the first flight I realized that I had hardly noticed after the initial climb. The side stick sits quite nicely where your hand is from the armrest. The feedback from the bungees on the early models isn't the best, but most of these planes are on AP flying on a cross country flight. I flew a SR22 last month with the AP out (for repairs) and it wasn't as bad with the feedback as I was expecting, but it was trimmed out well, so maybe that was it. One of the big bonuses of the side stick is no yoke in front of you, and more importantly your passenger. It really opens up the space in the cabin. Passengers really like not having the yoke in front of them; non pilot passengers that is. Some feel if they touch the yoke the plane might fall out of the sky. I fly Angel Flight missions and some of them have never been off the ground before. The SR22 cabin is 7" wider than the M20 cabin. That's a big deal. There's a center armrest that's wide enough it has storage in it. Bigger is the elbow room for the people. One still has to have good speed control. The flaps on the Cirrus are not big and the gear is not as draggy as the Mooney gear (when extended). If one is going too fast that plane will float down the runway just like a M20 will. The nose wheel steering takes some getting used to, but it will turn quite sharply. Early models many people heated of the brakes riding them too much due to steering via differential braking. Sorry, but the climb rate is pretty much the same between the two. Mooneys will cruise faster, but that's more bragging rights than making a difference in arrival time. Mooney states 197 kts max cruising speed for the Ovation Ultra, Cirrus states 183 knots max cruising for the SR22. For long range cruise Mooney lists 170 knots, which is the same speed the 2002 SR22 I used to fly running LOP. Even at max cruise 14 knots is not that much. Faster, yep. Even at 500 nm that's ~12 minutes. Not exactly. Maybe more a crowd that didn't grow up in an aviation family, but not a lot of young people can cough up $900k for a new SR22. There are lots of well established business owners that are buying those new Cirrus planes. Nope. While you can do it, it's frowned upon from multiple directions. Most rental fleets for a Cirrus want at least what I've seen from rental M20's, an IR and 250 hours, so want even more hours. You can get insurance for either a Mooney or Cirrus without an IR, but it will cost you more. Mooneys and Cirrus are traveling planes and insurance likes people in traveling planes to have an IR. And Mooney details the maintenance expenses to all buyers? The biggest difference is the chute repack and line cutter replacement. Those definitely add up on the expenses and they are calendar expenses, so added to your fixed costs. That really kicks up the hourly costs on a Cirrus if you don't fly much. Otherwise they both have IO-550, G1000, and more that are almost identical. Oh good grief. Everyone that has pulled the chute inside the parameters has lived. Everyone. And some of them that pulled outside of the parameters have lived too. I forget the glide ratio, but the glide range is ~1.6 nm per 1,000'. No, the plane is not a brick when the power is pulled. You want that excitement put the gear and flaps down on an Piper Arrow (like you'd be on the downwind) and pull the power to idle. It's an express elevator dooooooooown! A CFI had me do that one time. Holey moley! He said if you lose the engine put the gear back up until you need to lower it again to land. Glad I did that on purpose to see what happened instead of having to react to an actual engine out without knowing it. I've pulled the power to idle (yes that's a little different than a dead engine) and glided fine in a Cirrus. CFI had us do in the transition training and we made the runway from quite a ways away due to a good tailwind; it was outside of the no wind glide range. I told him I thought we could make that airport with the tailwind, but if we couldn't there were fields between us and we could "pull" the chute over them. We made the runway.

There is a lot of nice things being said on the COPA site about the SureFly. They are also saying that it makes hot starts a non-issue. Someone also stated that SureFly Aero is working on a STC for replacing both mags. It would require dual electrical systems, which makes the Cirrus people happy as they already have dual alternators and batteries.

^ This The Mooney is faster, but not enough to matter much; maybe at the extreme end of travel distances. It's more bragging rights. Plus the SR22 front seats feel more open with side sticks instead of yokes. My Angel Flight passengers really like not having the yoke in front of them; SR22 and Baron with the single throw-over yoke. Wayne

My comparison for the "a lot more" was to the C/E/F/J models not the M20M. Wayne

Too many CSOB Mooney owners. At least for upselling to newer planes. Nothing wrong with being frugal, but it does make it harder to sell newer/better planes to that market. Some of the Acclaim or Ovation owners might move up though. Cirrus has marketed towards the "buy now and trade-in later for a newer/better model" crowd. No, not everyone does that, but many do. I seriously doubt there are many C/E/F/J owners that are planning on buying a new Mooney. Yes, it's more expensive, but a new Mooney offers a lot more capability. Unfortunately it's a lot more expensive than a 50 year old plane. While it may be the same brand, those two are in completely different market segments. It would be like wondering why the 3rd owner of a 2002 SR22 with a six-pack panel is not interested in buying a new SF50 Cirrus Jet. Mooney not dealing with the G1000 issues (WAAS, ADS-B) is a big problem though. Would you want to spend $800k+ on a plane from a vendor that has a history of not supporting their systems? Anyone dreaming of a brand new $300k M20J though can give up that dream. Even if Mooney were to build and sell it, a new M20J would be quite a bit more. The base model of the SR20 is $454,900. Now, that "base" model includes a lot, but Cirrus has plenty of options, so the price does go up from there. That's a fixed gear plane with an IO-390 claiming 155 knots in max cruise.

It may slow some people down, but not sure why, unless it won't work with their current autopilot. With this glass panel you get to ditch the gyros, vacuum system, can also add ADS-B out/in and engine monitoring. Then it will just be a matter of time for the autopilot to be added. Same as with other autopilots. Yes, it might be nice to only have the plane down once for all of it, but this is a big improvement for many older GA planes.

Where are you going in Chicago and how long are you going to be there? I flew to Chicago a few years ago and went to GYY (Gary, IN), took the train into Chicago. The hotel was only a couple of blocks from the train station. I thought about Midway, but GYY was much cheaper, and then Obama was in Chicago so I couldn't go to Midway. Midway can be a good stop for a short stay and being downtown. It costs more, but it's closer. For a longer stay, or tighter budget, I'd recommend GYY. The smaller airports in Chicago are good if you are going somewhere closer to them.

My mother likes to say that roughing it is staying at a hotel without room service. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I read multiple flying forums. It's funny how this same message is on Mooney/Beech/Cirrus forums about "our" plane (for whichever forum it is) is the best. It's the old Chevy/Ford truck thing. "I'd rather push an X than drive a Y." *sigh*

That's not bad. I'd heard it was higher. I couldn't go there when we went though. Obama was visiting in Chicago and GYY was just outside of the TFR outer ring and MDW was inside the inner ring.

Another vote for GYY. We had them drop us off at the train stop. Easy peasy ride to Chicago. We gave them a call on the way back, a stop or two before Gary, and they picked us up. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Nope, apparently they are still having winter in Colorado. And a bad storm on top of it. Here in Atlanta I had the top down on my convertible yesterday.

I don't think so. The seat-sales optimization software is really good. There are just not that many seats leftover now. This may be why my niece has just had 5 flights cancel on her in 24 hours. She's stuck in Denver. [emoji853]

Ditto.

I'm surprised that nonsense is still being spread. Cirrus got the FAA to allow them to skip the spin recovery due to the chute. The Europeans didn't allow that and the Cirrus passed the spin test there for certification. Nope. In fact they have a lower fatality rate than most of the piston GA fleet. Cirrus like Mooneys and Bonanzas are traveling planes and fly in more challenging weather than planes more commonly used for training. When the weather is 10G20 nearing a direct crosswind the training slows or stops in many locations, but the traveling planes keep on going. Eventually somebody flies in something they are not ready for; it's rarely the plane as the limitation.

It's a joke from SNL, from long ago (when they were funny). The skit had a "money changer". Two 5's for a ten, four a 20, and so on. Someone asked him how he made money. His reply, "volume, volume, volume."

Volume, volume, volume.

Fly down to St Simons (SSI). Southern Soul BBQ is just off the airport. Only a 5 min walk. Great BBQ! And just a short hop in a Mooney.

Don't get that. Yes a WAAS GPS is better, but a non-WAAS GPS is perfectly fine. They are getting a bit long in the tooth, so I don't know that I would buy a used one, but immediately swapping one out in a plane doesn't need to be in everyone's plan. ^ There is that. I flew an Angel Flight mission a couple of years ago where I had to go over to a nearby airport, with slightly better weather as the ILS was down for repairs and the plane didn't have WAAS so I could only do the standard RNAV not the LPV portion. Got a brief glimpse of the runway as I was climbing on the missed. Didn't have to wait too long, but I wouldn't have had to wait at all if the plane had a WAAS GPS in it.

Whichever ATIS says is for the active. Or whichever is set-up for an easier approach from the direction I'm coming from. Only time I really care is if one get me lower and the ceiling requires that little bit lower.