Cirrus SR22 – New Options for 2012

The Cirrus SR22 is an absolutely excellent platform for a 4 seat airplane that can be used for both business and personal travel. It combines ease of use with comfort and a fair amount of speed. New features for this year are:

• 60/40 FlexSeating. This is similar to a 60/40 folding bench for your car; however, the Cirrus version gives you 10 pounds more useable load, a third seal belt, and a LATCH car seat attachment (which I believe is unique in aviation). 

• Perspective Global Connect. Basically this option is a satellite phone that integrates with your avionics. It has the ability to make voice calls, send and receive text messages, and retrieve world-wide weather reporting. 

The reality is that the third seat belt on the FlexSeating will really only be useful to those with three children (and probably pre-teen at that). On the up side, though, having a third child will no longer require an immediate upgrade to a six-seater. Owners will be able to wait a few years and make their aircraft investment more long lived. I do applaud the addition of the LATCH restraint system and the ability to fold down seats for temporary cargo carriage instead of having to remove and then reinstall them. This will make flights with cargo on one leg and passengers on another so much simpler.

I like the ability get worldwide weather with to the Perspective Global Connect (XM is limited to the US), and adding the ability to call through the regular audio panel and text from the MFD is icing on the cake. Obviously there’s the issue that all of your passengers can hear/talk on the phone, raising some privacy issues, and only the front seat passenger or pilot will be able to text given the location of the keypad.

Finally, Cirrus has made available some new paint and interior options. You can check out all the changes here.

Overall, very nice improvements to an excellent platform - bravo Cirrus!

Clear skies and tailwinds!
Mike

Good news about aviation!

And boy could we use some!!

The folks over at AOPA are reporting that overall accidents for General Aviation were down in 2010, even as flight hours rose. The numbers reported are preliminary ones as AOPA staffers prepare the annual Joseph T. Nall report on GA safety. Here's what we've been given so far -

- 1,435 accidents in 2010, the lowest in 20 years
- 450 fatalities in 2010, down from 478 in 2009

The article from AOPA goes to state that "[c]omplacency remains the enemy of safety."

In any human activity, we are subject to complacency after many successful repetitions. However, it is important as pilots that we always strive to fight complacency in our activities aloft.

Please remember to stay vigilant - our families, our passengers, the families our passengers, and our entire industry are relying on YOU to be careful.

Clear skies and tailwinds!
Mike

New risk on your next commercial flight...

According to this article passengers now need to worry about going to the bathroom during a commercial flight.

In short, there won;t be any more supplemental oxygen in commercial lavatories and should the pressurization system fail, the flight attendants won't be able to help passengers until well into the critical period for brain damage from oxygen deprivation.

I sincerely hope this policy gets changed BEFORE anyone has to get hurt.

Clear skies and tailwinds!
Mike

First up – Avidyne’s IFD540

The first product from Oshkosh 2011 that I want to cover is the Avidyne IFD540. This box is a slide-in replacement for the Garmin 530 series GPS/NAV/COMM and it offers some very exciting capabilities that will enhance the functions of your light business aircraft.

• First off, the IFD540 is using Avidyne’s Entegra Release 9 of software which has been highly touted for it’s of use.
• Even though it fits into the 530 mount – the display is larger, brighter, and has more pixels for a crisper picture
• The units are now touch screen enabled, but also retain knobs and buttons – this way the pilot can decide the easiest method of controlling this GPS/NAV/COMM
• Touch screen controls enable dragging of the magenta line so that routing around a point (storm, TFR, etc.) can be quicklhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gify accomplished
• A pop-up QWERTY keyboard for tying in exact way points

The enhancements offered by Avidyne will make IFR and VFR operations simpler and safer. Currently Avidyne is offering some very attractive pricing in addition to the industry leading capabilities. If you are considering upgrading your GPS this great unit would make a nice enhancement for your flight department.

You can learn all about the IFD540 here.

Clear skies and tailwinds!
Mike