It just occurred to me that some of you might be wondering where CFI Ryan has scurried off to.
Ryan has been invited to participate in the Cirrus Aircraft factory Instructor training program. For a week, Ryan will be chilling his tookus in Duluth, MN, flying the Cirrus SR-20 and SR-22 Aircraft, and generally having a frozen but wonderful time.
Ryan will return in the next week or so, and the schedule reflects that.
You may notice the lack of conventional flight yokes -- the Cirrus uses "side sticks" instead. My own comment was on long XC flights, you would be unable to switch from right arm to left to pilot the aircraft. Each cirrus is equipped with an impressive autopilot, so the choice is to switch from right-arm to "no-arm".Seems they thought of everything.
Of course, the truly unique thing that Cirrus has going for it (Cirrus surpassed Cessna as the #1 GA Aircraft manufacturer in 2003) is the Ballistic Parachute System.
Seen here, the Parachute is deployed in emergency situations, and the entire aircraft will float down to the ground on its own, and ideally, out of harm's way.Some pundits have suggested that Cirrus' higher accident rate is due to lazy or panicked pilots deploying the chute instead of reverting to standard emergency procedures. Ouch.
Word on the street is that they're beautiful aircraft to fly (they're definitely beautiful on the ground), and we'll look forward to Ryan's review when he returns as a Cirrus Certified Flight Instructor.
