Good Evening All
Im tinkering with the idea of buying a used SR22G5, however….
There seem to be quite a lot of used SR22G5s for sale in the UK without turbo and oxygen but with FIKI and Air Con.
In my mind, that means you are going to get around FL120 (without o2, legally on N reg but not so on EASA reg) which IME wont get you reliable VFR on top all year round. So are these people flying in cloud (and possibly icing conditions) and hoping the FIKI saves the day or are they staying at home ?
Whatever they are doing, I guess they are cool ?!!
Any thoughts ?
EASA Part-NCO is very flexible when it comes to O2 requirements – more so than FARs.
A lot of people also have portable O2 systems which are easier to service and less of a pain to maintain than that installed in an airplane.
Wrt A/C you need to ask yourself how often you will really need it, and whether the weight/cost/benefit makes sense.
De-ice is a no-brainer.
Even at FL250 you won’t necessarily be on top every time. But that allows you to fly in temperatures that are not conducive to icing. A NA Cirrus should reasonably be capable of FL150 which will allow you to be VMC most times except for frontal weather
With a single-engine piston there is only so much you can do safely regardless.
Nearly all non-turbo planes do not have a fitted oxygen system.
So, those who want oxygen fly with a portable kit. I have some notes here and most of that is still valid; the stuff I use is listed at the end (Mountain High).
A suprising % of pilots will fly FL120 without oxygen… they don’t like cannulas, etc. In reality it’s not a problem, unless you have to do it with a whole family, small kids, etc.
There’s a semi-portable oxygen kit from Mountain High for the SR22, also available from Cirrus. I have that kit and use it to fly up to FL 180.
My airplane also has A/C and i would not want one without anymore.
Simoon wrote:
So are these people flying in cloud (and possibly icing conditions) and hoping the FIKI saves the day or are they staying at home ?
No, you can’t fly inside clouds at sub zero for longer time, you can climb and descend through only, no matter if FIKI or not. The turbo lets you climb high and quickly enough to get out of icing on time.
The S22T has significantly higher utility value than the SR22, if you got the balls and can live with the missing comfort of a pressurized cabin, it’s basically a “fly at any weather” aircraft.
it’s basically a “fly at any weather” aircraft.
Your life expectancy will be reduced in that operating mode 
Your life expectancy is reduced by getting a PPL…
But seriously, the S22T is the high end in unpressurized pistons with the highest dispatch rate. With some balls (like I said in my previous statement), it is a dependable means of travel. A PA46 wouldn’t add mission capability per se (only through its onboard radar), only comfort.
To get higher mission capability, a turbine is required. The entry level turbines (e.g. P46T) only add altitude to overfly weather but if you end up in a CB/TCU, all those planes including TBM930 and higher look pretty bad.
And being honest, I have to say the onboard radar in the PA46 piston is very limited (not reliable enough beyond say 30nm) and that the slower climb makes it somewhat more liable to icing than the Cirrus – at least in that phase of flight; pressurisation means you can accept quite steep descents at the approach end.
However the turbines add a significant safety element with their much better rate of climb and ease of getting at FL280.
And being honest, I have to say the onboard radar in the PA46 piston is very limited (not reliable enough beyond say 30nm)
Why would you want to use it for any further? For longer-term decisions, downloaded weather is much better anyway… I would say onboard radar is only useful for very short term decision making (skirting tightly around single cells whilst in IMC).
achimha wrote:
Your life expectancy is reduced by getting a PPL…
Is that supported by statistics ?
@achimha wrote:
The S22T has significantly higher utility value than the SR22, if you got the balls and can live with the missing comfort of a pressurized cabin, it’s basically a “fly at any weather” aircraft.
Does it have any better utility than your Turbo 182, considering deicing is probably less capital for a 182 than a Cirrus ?
