Cirrus SR22: specs, V-speeds, CAPS and real costs

The G6 POH lists 17.8 gallons per hour at 75% power with a best-power mixture, for 166-180 KTAS between sea level and 8,000 ft. Usable fuel is 92.0 of 94.5 gallons.

Cirrus publishes a range of 1,169 nm at 55% power for the SR22 (1,021 nm for the SR22T). Plan real legs with reserves, winds and climb fuel; the fuel burn calculator turns your power setting and the local avgas price into dollars.

CAPS is a whole-airframe parachute, standard on every Cirrus. Pulling the red handle in the cabin ceiling fires a rocket that pulls the parachute out of the fuselage, and the whole airplane descends under the canopy with the occupants inside. It is not an ejection system.

The number to know is the maximum demonstrated deployment speed, Vpd: 140 KIAS in the G6 POH (serials 4435 and on) and 133 KIAS in the 2003 POH for 3,400-lb airplanes. Use the handbook for the airplane you fly; a generation-old number is the wrong one to brief.

Cirrus trains pilots to treat CAPS as a primary option, decided early, for situations such as an engine failure over terrain where no safe forced landing exists, loss of control, a mid-air collision or pilot incapacitation. Altitude buys time for the canopy to deploy, which is why the decision has to come early.

The parachute and rocket have a service life set by Cirrus. When you look at a used SR22, check the CAPS service date in the logbook and price the next repack into the deal.

Current SR22s fly with Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin, a Cirrus-specific flight deck built by Garmin. It shares Garmin's design language with the G1000 family, but it is not sold as a G1000 and has its own layout, displays and controls, so learn it from the Perspective pilot's guide for your software version. The first SR22s used Avidyne Entegra displays before Cirrus moved to Garmin's Perspective.

The G6 handbook we checked is written for Perspective+. Features such as synthetic vision, traffic and datalink weather depend on the options installed; confirm them in the airplane's equipment list.

Moving between a Perspective cockpit and a G1000 airplane? The Garmin G1000 guide has a labeled diagram of the two-screen G1000 layout.

Cirrus Aircraft was founded by brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier and builds its airplanes in Duluth, Minnesota. The SR22 followed the smaller SR20 and entered service in 2001 with the IO-550-N engine, a composite airframe and, like every Cirrus, the CAPS parachute. Wikipedia, a secondary source, reports 8,246 SR22s delivered from 2001 through 2024.

Cirrus names its major updates by generation (G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, G7; there was no G4). The 2003 handbook we read is for 3,400-lb airplanes; the G6 handbook raises maximum takeoff weight to 3,600 lb with a 3,400-lb maximum zero-fuel weight and changes several limit speeds (see the generation table). The G7 was announced in January 2024. Cirrus also builds the Vision Jet, which carries a parachute too.

Stepping up from a 172 or PA-28 needs formal transition training, and insurers usually make it a condition of coverage, typically with a Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP). Requirements vary by insurer and by your experience, so ask for them in writing before you buy or rent.

• Side-stick: the SR22 is flown with a side-mounted stick instead of a yoke, throttle in the other hand.
• Speed management: a clean, fast airframe that does not slow down easily. A short-field final is 79 KIAS in the G6 POH, against 61 KIAS in a 172S.
• Avionics depth: Perspective is capable and deep; study it on the ground before you fly it.
• CAPS decision-making: brief when you would pull, every flight, so the decision is already made.
• Castering nosewheel: you steer on the ground with differential brakes, which takes practice in crosswinds.

Planning to fly it IFR? The instrument rating exam prep covers the written; if you are still working on the private certificate, start with the private pilot written exam.