Cirrus SR20
Encyclopedia
The Cirrus Design
Cirrus Design
The Cirrus Aircraft Corporation is an aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft....
SR20 is a piston engine composite
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
that seats four. The SR20 is noted for being the first production general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
aircraft equipped with a parachute designed to lower the aircraft safely to the ground after loss of control or structural failure.
Design and development
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
certification was achieved on 23 October 1998.
Hundreds of SR20s have been sold since the first was delivered in 1999
1999 in aviation
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1999:-February:* February 16 – Gulfstream II carrying film director Barry Sonnenfeld , slid off runway at Van Nuys, California; Sonnenfeld was uninjured.*February 24 – A China Southwest Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in Ruian, China while descending...
. As of December 2006 over 2000 Cirrus aircraft had been delivered.
One of the major selling points for the SR20 is that it has a fully digital avionics
Avionics
Avionics are electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft.Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to meet individual roles...
suite with one 10 inches (254 mm) Avidyne
Avidyne Corporation
Avidyne Corporation is an avionics company based in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Avidyne is developer of Integrated Flight Deck Systems, multi-function displays, and traffic advisory systems for light general aviation aircraft. Headquartered in Lincoln, MA, the company has facilities in Columbus, OH,...
FlightMax primary flight display
Primary flight display
A primary flight display or PFD is a modern aircraft instrument dedicated to flight information. Much like multi-function displays, primary flight displays are built around an LCD or CRT display device...
and one multi-function display
Multi-function display
A Multi-function display is a small screen in an aircraft surrounded by multiple buttons that can be used to display information to the pilot in numerous configurable ways. Often an MFD will be used in concert with a Primary Flight Display. MFDs are part of the digital era of modern planes or...
. A pair of Garmin
Garmin
Garmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
GNS430s provide GPS navigation, conventional radio navigation
Air navigation
The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another....
, and radio communications.
The SR20, like the faster SR22
Cirrus SR22
The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine, four-seat, composite aircraft, built by Cirrus Aircraft starting in 2001. It is a more powerful version of the Cirrus SR20, with a larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and a 310 horsepower engine...
, is equipped with the Ballistic Recovery Systems
Ballistic Recovery Systems
Ballistic Recovery Systems is a manufacturer of aircraft ballistic parachutes .The company was formed in 1980 by Boris Popov after he survived a fall in a partly collapsed hang glider in 1975...
Cirrus Aircraft Parachute System, a large parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
which can be deployed in an emergency to lower the entire aircraft to the ground safely.
On 1 June 2004, the SR20 became the first aircraft to achieve the new European Aviation Safety Agency
European Aviation Safety Agency
The European Aviation Safety Agency is an agency of the European Union with offices in Cologne, Germany, which has been given regulatory and executive tasks in the field of civilian aviation safety. It was created on 15 July 2002, and it reached full functionality in 2008, taking over functions...
certificate for aircraft imported into the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
SR20 G3 Model
In 2007 Cirrus introduced an updated model of the SR20 that incorporates changes from the SR22 G3 airframe, including installing the new lighter SR22 wing which has a greater wing area than the previous SR20 wing. The installation of the larger wing increased the SR20's cruise speed by 6–7 kn (11.8–13.7 km/h).This improved model is called the SR20 G3 for "Generation 3". The new model includes:
- A lighter wing of greater area, incorporating a carbon-fiber spar
- Increased useful load by 50 pounds (22.7 kg) by increasing the take-off weight to 3050 pounds (1,383.5 kg)
- Increased fuel capacity to 56 US gallons (212 l) using a wet wingWet wingA wet wing is an aerospace engineering technique where an aircraft's wing structure is sealed and used as a fuel tank. By eliminating the need for fuel bladders, aircraft can weigh less and the wing root bending moment caused by the lift generated by the wings in flight is decreased...
- Re-designed main landing gear that is 2 inches (5 cm) taller giving greater propeller and tail clearance
- New recognition lights using LEDLEdLEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
s - Improved aircraft handling, due to increased dihedral
- Improved aerodynamics, including new wing root fairings
- Improved heat and ventilation
- Dual-redundant GPS WAAS-certified GarminGarminGarmin Ltd. , incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao , that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System...
GNS 430W comm-navigators (they include a VHF radio and a VOR device) - S-Tec Autopilot
SRV model
The Cirrus SRV was a VFR-only version of the SR20 that was optimized for the low-end private ownership and flight training market. As such it omitted some standard equipment available on the SR20 such as wheel fairings. For 2008 the SRV model was updated to G3 configuration, with the SR22 wing. Cirrus discontinued the SRV for the 2010 model year and no longer offers an aircraft with analog instruments.T-53A
In 2011, the SR20 was selected for flight training at the United States Air Force AcademyUnited States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
as the T-53A. Twenty-five examples will be purchased to replace the Academy's current stock of 20 leased T-52A
Diamond DA40
The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier DA20 by Diamond Aircraft Industries....
s by May 2012.
Aircraft type club
The Cirrus aircraft are supported by an aircraft type clubAircraft type club
Aircraft type clubs are organizations that provide information and support to a single aircraft type or a group of aircraft types from the same manufacturer or family of aircraft....
, the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association
Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association
The Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association is a not-for-profit aircraft type club for owners and pilots of certified aircraft manufactured by Cirrus Design.In October 2008 the association had 2800 members worldwide....
(COPA).
Civil
The SR20 is popular with many flying schools and is operated by private individuals and companies. The largest operators are Delta Connection AcademyDelta Connection Academy
The Aerosim Flight Academy, formerly the Delta Connection Academy, a former subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, is a flight school for prospective pilots wishing to enter a career as a commercial airline pilot. As of August 2, 2010, Delta Connection Academy changed names to Aerosim Flight Academy. It...
which operates 34, the Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
College of Aviation which has 28 and Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
with a fleet of 16.
Military
- United States Air Force AcademyUnited States Air Force AcademyThe United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
- 3 (22 more on order)