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N200SR – the first Cirrus SR20

In late 1995 FLYING MAGAZINE (USA) had a new airplane on its cover and the story sounded promising. 160 knots, all composite, a parachute ..? I found that very interesting and so i travelled to Duluth, MN. in January 1996.

The place was the coldest i had even been to to that point. 10 feet of snow, minus 25 degrees Celsius on the ground. Practically everything was frozen solid. The day after our arrival (i travelled with my girfriend) we met Alan Klapmeier in “Grandma’s Restaurant” in Duluth and he would explain the concept of the new aircraft to me. And later that day they let me fly N200SR for an hour. I really liked the airplane, but of course the air was so cold that it’s performance was much more impressing than I would have expected from a 200 hp four seater.

After that flight we did a photo flight. I used a C-182 and we took the right door out, and it was really the coldest photo flight of all the maybe 150 I have done …

Here are some pictures from that day. I have tried to find out what happened to N200SR. The last I heard was that it’s in some hangar in Duluth and that it has not flown for many years.


No cuffs on the wing yet, the cowling different, the doors completely different

Me flying N200SR


The first prototype had a three blade MT prop




Last Edited by Flyer59 at 20 Oct 18:07

Great pictures, Alexis!

What an ugly interior! Good they did some work on that before shipping the plane…

Yes, when I look at that now and compare it with my SR22 of today I wonder why i was so impressed back then … but that one was really the VERY first one, the conforming prototypes came much later.

Last Edited by Flyer59 at 20 Oct 18:45

Interesting that the proto had a 3 blade composite MT prop, yet is was not certified . What’s the story on that ?

FAA A&P/IA
LFPN

Alan Klapmeier was a big fan of the MT props and he really wanted the SR20 to have the MT 3-blade prop. Obviously during the certification of the plane the pressure from the US prop manufacturers become stronger (i remember vaguely that he said s.th. like that) … so the Hartzell and McCauley props became standard.

But I have long forgotten the details, … (i should have many tapes with all those interviews somewhere in the basement, but who has time to look for them ….)

With the TBM the story was that both the engineers and customers considered the MT 5 blade to be the better choice but then Mr Hartzell bought 3 TBMs… It’s possible to get an MT prop on the TBM but it involves getting a Hartzell first, applying an MT STC and selling the Hartzell back to Socata.

So it seems there are politics involved in decisions like that.

Price of the 3-blade Hartzell composite prop for the SR22: + 30 K $

Price of the 4-blade MT wood/composite prop for the SR22: around $ 18 K

Both with TKS prop deice, spinner

So here’s one of the first iterations after that prototype. I went all the way with a Sandel EHSI. That plane must be worth millions now as a collectors item.

Indeed darned cold up there when we took delivery. Almost froze ’m off..

In a tribute to America we decided to stick a flag up the fuselage. Come on, don’t tell me these things about GoPros disturbing the aerodynamics.

I salute Cirrus for having continuously keep on developing their aircraft.

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

Very cool, thank you!
Does N263CD mean that it was serial number 63?

Do you still have it?

Very cool photos from both of you!

@Flyer59 Was your flight before or after the fatal accident with the Cirrus test pilot?

EGKB Biggin Hill London
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