Sharing a “Cirrus SR22T Transition and Engine Management” page in case it is useful to other flight instructors. I found that there wasn’t anything good out there, even from Cirrus, for pilots who already knew how to fly the SR22 and needed differences training for the SR22T.
People are actually buying these $1 million non-pressurized piston-powered machines. That’s the magic of (a) the parachute, and (b) Cirrus’s incremental annual improvements. General aviation would be a lot more popular, in my opinion, if the Piper Malibu had entered true mass production. Passengers want a quieter ride, to be above the weather and not wearing an oxygen mask, to walk up the airstair door, etc. But Cirrus has done amazing by focusing on the pilot. The G6 airplanes, for example, will automatically turn off the yaw damper below 400′ AGL. No more wondering how the rudder pedals got so crazy stiff on landing!
I would love to see Cirrus do a clean-sheet piston-powered airplane that concentrated on passenger comfort: pressurization plus dramatic reduction in interior noise for a start.
Pusher motor homes with engines in back are much quieter than puller style MHs. I tried to look up pusher airplanes like the Long Easy pusher and could not find a list or the names and details. Are they not good planes or are they not quieter?
I know a lot of older jet designs are pushers and they pretty noisy vs the wing mounted engines. I also know that new designs like the 787 are also very quiet and that has wing engines.
You pay a lot of attention to the noise level when you write about various planes. You talk about it a little like the way you used to call out digicams that couldn’t tell whether they were being held in portrait or landscape.
As an outsider I’m puzzled, because it strikes me that by now, aircraft manufacturers should have done at least as much as car companies have to tackle NVH, and would be better at it. Modern cars are just a lot “tighter” and less noisy in every domain – drivetrain, wind and road noise, interior rattles and loose bits banging around, you name it. They’re just put together better and the car manufacturers really pay attention to it. Even a relatively cheap economy rental car is a more pleasant vehicle to drive than almost any car you could ride in 30 years ago. I would have expected aircraft to be way ahead in this domain.
Sorry for the double-post, but:
…and then I think, maybe some (older) pilots actually like the noise and have become accustomed to it, at least insofar as they use it as another “instrument” to monitor the aircraft’s performance? In other words they’re like: “If I can’t hear how hard the engine is working I don’t trust it.” So what is it, do the old guys like the noisy planes? Lol. I note this from your Cirrus SR20 review:
“The main challenge to being comfortable in flight is interior noise. Cirrus is trying to market these planes to yuppies who’ve never flown light aircraft before and who lost interest in old metal airplanes because they were too noisy and uncomfortable compared to a modern car.”
Given their target demographic, I think they should take heed.
If anything I think it’s possible that electric or serial hybrid electric aircraft might change GA. Electric engines are reliable and quiet. A reasonable battery bank and possibly a small generator would increase comfort a great deal. Unfortunately the batteries are not quite there yet to deliver range.
“General aviation would be a lot more popular, in my opinion, if the Piper Malibu had entered true mass production.”
A fascinating point… it’s been a long time, but my recollection is the Malibu was a hit at first, but the declining GA market made Piper unwilling (or unable) to aggressively pursue its surprise success.
Maybe if the Malibu had arrived a few years sooner, things would have turned out very differently?? Piper did eventually create the Meridian, but I never saw the point of that.