2007 Cirrus SR-22 GTS Turbo N910B

You may wonder why there’s a picture of a jet included with the pictures of this plane.  It’s very simple – when I went to pick up my new Cirrus, I put a deposit down for the upcoming Cirrus Jet.

I bought this plane only 2 years after I purchased my first Cirrus.  There were several reasons.  First, this plane was turbo-normalized.  That’s technical talk for the fact that the motor was able to keep sea-level pressure in the manifold that greatly increases performance.  Normally aspirated planes lose power as they climb into less dense air, but the turbo-normalized plane keeps its efficiency all the way to cruising altitude.  Second – this plane had air conditioning, while the 2005 didn’t.  That’s not a problem at cruising altitude, but taxiing and waiting to take-off while you’re on the ground in Arizona can be really uncomfortable.  Lastly, the avionics on this plane were better than the ones on the earlier model.

When I went to the Cirrus plant to pick up the plane and receive my 3 days of transition training, the newly announced Cirrus Jet prototype was at the plant.  I was able to get a demonstration of the jet and climb around inside the plane.  I was very impressed.  It had a lot more room than my current Cirrus and was very comfortable.

Cirrus was advertising this as a “personal jet”, not even a “very light jet”.  They claimed it would be the lowest and slowest jet available, with a service ceiling of about 27,000 ft. and a cruise speed of around 300 knots. That’s about 50% faster than my current plane was.  I figured it would be a perfect solution for a pilot like myself.  It had the same landing characteristics as my current plane – cross the fence at around 75 knots when landing.  It would be something I could be very comfortable flying by myself.  When I ordered it, they were expecting that they would start delivering the Jet in 2010.

 

Bill Sefton
Bill Sefton
Bill Sefton, Chicago native, and passionate car collector. Currently retired, but still involved in the car collection community. Reach out, happy to connect!