At Echelon Air we have a fleet of SR20s for training and rental. We are often asked this question, by first-time learners and experienced pilots transitioning to Cirrus. As always, it depends. At Echelon Air we’d generally recommend starting your journey on the simpler SR20 when first learning to fly, training towards an IRR or converting from FAA to UK licences.
As pilots we generally aim for the best: the fastest, the highest, the longest range. But there is a time when the ‘most’ isn’t necessarily the best – that time is during basic training. When you are learning to fly, whether that be PPL, instrument or anything else, do you really need to be rocketing along? Generally, no, you don’t. Actually, the extra speed can act as a disadvantage, allowing less time to run checklists, get power settings right or try and say ‘conspicu… conspiqet… 7000’ on the radio. Cirrus Training Centres around the world are trusting the SR20 as their primary trainer and Echelon Air is no exception. Why? Well, there are a few key differences between the SR20 and it’s big brothers.
Engine and fuel burn
The SR20 has a smaller four-cylinder engine vs its big brother’s six-cylinder (and in the case of the T, turbocharged) power trains. This means we cruise a little slower and consume less fuel. The SR20 will sit very happily at about 130 knots drinking 12 US gallons of fuel an hour; compare that to 155 knots and 17 USG in a 22T (we are talking low altitude numbers here – the 22T will give you 200 TAS up in the flight levels). That’s a significant fuel saving from forgoing a capability you don’t necessarily need during initial flight training. It’s also an easier engine to manage, with no need to monitor temperatures on turbochargers – all handy when you’re still fighting to stay ahead of the airplane in the early days, and let’s face it 130 knots isn’t exactly ‘slow’! You’ll breeze past most primary training aircraft without ever having to push the engine past best economy cruise.
Other differences
The SR20 doesn’t have options for some of the more ‘advanced’ systems that its big brothers have. You can’t have TKS anti-ice or FIKI (flight into known icing). Nor can you have oxygen. Those systems are designed for going higher and further into potentially bad weather and that’s where the 22 and 22T really do come into their own. When you sit in the cockpit though, the ONLY visible difference between the 20 and 22 is the lack of switches for those systems. Everything else is identical.
Transition
That neatly brings me on to a question we get all the time: ‘Well, I’m going to fly an SR22, so surely I want to learn on an SR22?’ I hear you; it’s a great airplane! But because the cockpits are almost identical, the avionics systems just as fully featured and the flying characteristics also effectively the same, the transition is very simple. We’ll teach you about the new systems, the new speeds and keeping those extra cylinders (and turbos) within limits. But other than that, you’re already a pro on everything else because you’ve mastered the SR20!
The Cirrus progression
Cirrus puts a lot of thought into its offering. The SR20 is very deliberately designed to be as similar to the 22/22T as possible, to make the transition nice and smooth. It’s designed as a stepping stone and it allows for more-economical training, by taking out the systems (and cylinders) we simply don’t need in the early stages. If you think that’s a cool concept, go and sit in an SF50 Vision jet. If you’ve flown any modern generation SR you’ll be blown away by how, once again, they’ve managed to keep the cockpit so similar, with the addition of just a few extra systems.
Conclusion
The backbone of the Cirrus training fleet is the SR20. It’s the perfect aircraft for starting your Cirrus journey. At Echelon Air we have a fleet of SR20s (G6 and G7) for training and rental. We also have SR22s and SR22Ts for advanced and transition training, and if you fancy a trial flight in the SF50, we’d love to make that happen too.
Don’t underestimate the SR20 as a training platform. It may be the little brother but it’s an incredibly capable aircraft. It has given me many wonderful memories – flying across the Atlantic and throughout Europe.
If the SR20 has the performance to beat the North Atlantic in its back pocket, I bet it still has a thing or two it can teach you.
Author: Robbie Connington
Photographer: Nick Ellis
Check out our Cirrus Transition Training: https://echelonair.com/cirrus-transition-training/