Cirrus SR18

Is this likely to be positioned below the SR20, perhaps into the PPL trainer market?

I guess a basic training aircraft with CAPS makes sense. Although personally the only time I was close to crashing was during my first solo landing, where I bounced three times and then firewalled the throttle after the Flugleiter advised to do so. CAPS wouldn’t have helped there and then. But in other situations it might be a lifesaver for a student pilot (and instructor)

The SR20 is in an awkward position product-wise. With just a few extra horses and equipment it could be a decent middle range SEP cruiser, but it has to remain a basic trainer as well, pulling it down. If they go through with this more clear segmentation I think it’s a good move from Cirrus.

Other than no wheel fairings, is there an indication of how this plane is different than an SR20? Depending on the engine, wing loading etc it seems to me that hourly fuel burn might be an issue for basic training.

(Bear in mind that I wouldn’t know one Cirrus from any other visually!)

Maybe this one has modified spin characteristics and does not need the safety chute. That would save a lot of costs, maintenance and weight and the lower price could create an entry in the training market

I can’t quite work out how many seats it has in it?

When I was doing my PPL the issue of parachutes came up and the view of several instructors was that they wouldn’t want them as an option for students in the early stages of training for fear that they would use them through fear rather than need. Perhaps any student who did so might be said to have been sent up too early, but in practice if you’re expecting to train 100s of students in the lifetime of the plane the chances are that one or two will get panicky however well prepared they are.

Yes; there is also the possibility of the non-PIC (the PPL student in this context) pulling the chute. Much previous discussion here in some old threads… it has happened.

I wonder if the lack of wheel cowlings is intentional; they cost an awful lot of fuel. In the UK, most schools remove them because it saves damaging them and they are happy flying some 5-10% slower because the plane+instructor are rented by the hour

One really cannot tell from the photo but I would be amazed if it was a 2-seater, given that the 2-seater market is saturated with Rotax engined models, and the US PPL training market doesn’t seem to be running the C150/152 fleets like they do over here.

Peter wrote:

I wonder if the lack of wheel cowlings is intentional; they cost an awful lot of fuel.

they are happy flying some 5-10% slower because the plane+instructor are rented by the hour

…and for the most part PPL training doesn’t involve going places, so the speed is not very relevant.