In February 1996 i was invited by Cirrus Design (today Cirrus Aircraft) to fly the first prototype of the SR20 in Duluth, MN. I flew N200SR accompanied by a company test pilot for about one hour that day. Later in the afternoon I did the air to air pictures from a C-182, and that was really the coldest photo flight I have ever done. It was about -20 C on the ground and we removed the right door of the Cessna …. and after the 30 minute photo flight I was practically frozen.
Back then I did all my pictures with a Nikon D4S or F2AS and on Fuji Velvia Professional 50 ASA slide film (there really was no good enough digital camera) … and I was really not sure if the film was ok. I let all 20 rolls be developed right there the next day, so I would have another chance to do the pictures through a window, if necessary. All was good. The story was the first pilot report of the SR20 in Europe and was the Cover Story of “fliegermagazin” in April 1996.
One of 200 air to air pictures.
The prototype had a three blade MT prop, because Alan Klapmeier was a fan of MT. Some business decision made them use a 2-blade Hartzell on the first airplanes delivered. Later they went to a 3-blade Hartzell, which was first used on the European airplanes.
The cooling was different, the doors of the prototype do not have the final shape yet.
Look at those Avionics. Back then I had zero idea of the stuff to come (the first glass Cockpit was in the 2003 model)
Actually almost the whole interior was changed for the production model.
This fuselage was used for the drop tests, a long time before they tried the CAPS system in the air.
Two years later when I came back for the certification N200SR was still flown – and was used for the first real CAPS deployment. The last I heard of it was that it sits in some dark corner of the factory. Maybe one day it’ll end in some museum. I think it was a milestone of GA.
One more from the Air. Dean Vogel is the Cirrus test pilot on this flight
In early 2000 this is what the Cirrus Factory in Duluth looked like. These were done with the first digital camera I used professionally, a Nikon Coolpix 990.
Inside of the wing and fuel tanks
Asembly of the panel structure. In the foreground you can see the mechanics of the single lever prop control
What a coincedence: “N701CD”, beiing assembled in this photo was the first SR22 delivered to Europe in early 2001. When it arrived at the Cirrus Europe dealership in Holland I flew it and made some pictures in the Air.
An absolutely fascinating post – thank you for sharing it and the pictures. The history and anecdotes from the photo shoot are absorbing. Interesting to note the changes that were made for the production aircraft – all the basics are there but considerable refinements were still to come. Shocker: three levers!
I agree that this was a milestone for GA.
Time flies. Literally.
Thank you Finners. I thought that this might interest some of you. And I have many more (actually about 150.000 pictures I have on my RAID :-)
Here’s SR22 G1 “N701CD” in Flight after it was brought to Europe. Pictures were made in Groningen, over the Eelde airport in Holland. at the controls Bill Middendorp, the CEO of Cirrus Europe back then. Today the company is run by his son Steven.
This one was selected as the cover shot of the magazine and it was later used by Cirrus too.
Bill Middendorp let my fly N701CD for two hours and after we landed he offered that I take it to some island in the North Sea solo. But somehow I didn’t dare too. I was pretty impressed by the performance I guess and I was not sure if I was already good enough after a coupole of landings to fly it safely.
Thanks for the very informative posts, Flyer59.
I nearly bought an SR20 in 2001.
Peter wrote:
I nearly bought an SR20 in 2001.
The world of GA would’ve looked much different it this had happened 
Alexis, thanks a lot for the photos! Now that you have shown the SR20 from different angles and at different stages of assembly, I do indeed see the Grumman Tiger heritage you mentioned at Rakovnik.
lovely photos
How many a year are they producing these days?
301 last year (31 SR20, 128 SR22, 142 SR22T)
That’s about a third of all worldwide SEP production.
