Not Bellanca related but...

G

Gary Brink

New member
I got to fly a friend's SR22 turbo Cirrus today and am amazed at all of the "bells and whistles". I have 800,000 reasons why I didn't want to land it because it is too slippery for me. :D
 
I get occasional stick time in a friends Glassair 1. It is fun zipping along at 195 MPH on less HP than a Cruisair, and surprisingly the pattern speeds are only a little more than a Cruisair, but it is a lousy airplane to land smoothly. It just wants to plop down onto the runway with no grace at all. The rudder and ailerons are very much like a Cruisair, but the elevators are something else again. The first time I sneezed, I almost put my head through the canopy. Very, very sensitive. I think I will stick with my Cruisair. ______Grant.
 
I sort of agree with you, Larry. When I fly in a fast airplane it simply isn't FUN. They usually have the autopilot linked with the GPS so the pilot takes off, sets the auto pilot, and then basically does nothing until reaching the destination. In the past sixty days, I have had the opportunity to ride in and fly a Cirrus, a Columbia, and a Malibu. I only flew them because we turned off the autopilot so I could fly them. They are fast but they lack the fun of our slower birds.
Gary
 
I have an hour in a Cirrus. You can have it. It is so high tech that nobody is flying the plane! The plane is flying them and then they pull the chute. Game over. I'll stick with the crate thank you. Lynn :)
 
I think the Cirrus is like the Ercoupe. It is bought by people that probably should not be flying, but the chute makes them feel safe. They seem to have a very bad crash record. Stick with the Cardboard Connie. _______Grant.
 
Yes, we have an SR22 that is wrecked in one of our hangers. It was a case on a man with too much money and very little time as a pilot. It isn't a good idea to get your ticket in a Tomahawk and then buy a Cirrus.
 
Cirrus is "the new doctor killer".

More money than sense almost guarantees you can get flushed through some accelerated
"academy" or get private lessons from some CFI who has never done a spin in his life,
has no idea what is on the other end of any of the switches on the panel, and is maybe as much
as "vidiot" as his student.

How they get past the designated examiner I don't know.

But the Private Pilot License, can easily be a License To Kill, and a glossy high performance airplane,
with lots of Glass and HP, and seats tends to add a good deal of "credibility" to a guy with a $200 haircut
and Gucci loafers who happens to have enough credit to buy one, or show up with a rented one on the ramp.

----

I was at one of those Wings/AOPA evening seminars a while back... and there was some discussion about this fast
slick homebuilt ( lancair, glassair, ???) I forget which. It has the most God Awful fuel management scheme,
something like multiple wing tanks with multiple pumps you tried to make keep some microscopic header tank full
so the thing would fly.

Naturally all the systems in the plane are electric, so one basic simple problem, like a failed battery cable connector
renders the whole flying abortion untenable pretty darn quick.

Cue Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings or whoever.. "My rig may be old, but that don't mean she's slow"
also not stupid either !

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Larry's got a good point. Higher I fly, the less exciting it is.
But excitement isn't something I crave in flying...just the opposite.
Which is why I don't fly 2 strokes with an airspeed spread between rotating and cruise of 3 mph,
and a normal cruise altitude " just keep it above the box cars".

---

compare the cost to repair a hole in a wing, or a gash in a fuselage
between a Bellanca and a Cirrus.

I think could could Total A Cirrus, by skewering it with a runway light !

Bellanca could be fixed in a couple of hours.
 
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