I would suggest you order the G1000 PC simulator from Garmin. For about 25 Us$ or so you will get a CD or download so you can practice at home and learn the menus. I recently had some DA42 sim time with a G1000 and this was the largest hurdle coming from sixpack and GNS.
I re-met recently an old Bulgarian friend-pilot who told me the bad news about a recently qualified Bulgarian PPL .He had the money for that and he chose to quickly step up to a Cirrus SR22.He flew some hours with an instructor and thereafter he set forward for his first SR22 solo flight from Varna to Balchik.Upon arriving Balchik ,he came fast bumping 1-2 times,then went around with full flaps which produced an accelerated stall and loss of control.Parachute deployment didnt produce any benefit from that situation.
https://www.novinite.com/articles/191826/Small+Aircraft+Crash+Kills+Pilot+in+Bulgaria
If that is true, then my comment is that this is not an uncommon scenario.
It’s not even necessarily the fault of the instructor. Many of them properly stress the need for correct approach speeds and the fact that all SEP need to be flared all the way so as to touch down with the minimal speed possible, in a positive nose-up attitude. Still, as soon as the (novice) pilot starts flying alone, he suffers some inexplicable kind of “get-down-itis” during the last moments of the landing and “puts” it down at much too high a speed / energy. And then you get a nosewheel landing and a bounce. In the SR22, you want the IAS to be 60 knots (plus or minus 2) as the mainwheels touch; otherwise, you were too fast. Still, in the SR22, it requires a huge amount of “down” sight picture to put it down on the nosewheel; it’s hardly possible at all.
The Cirrus is not much of a „seat of the pants“ type of plane and it has bitten many. It still is one of the easiest planes I have flown, but I am not flying it enough so I have a lot of respect for it. It’s basically a simple single engine piston and when I read things that mistify it like „it has to be flown by numbers like an airliner“ I do think people exaggerate a bit. Behind those fancy screens the plane is still a leaded fuel drinking vibrating dinosaur that requires leaning, ugh..
Anyway it doesn’t really matter if the size of one’s ego is inverse to how much money one has and is willing to splurge on professional guidance for a year. Either stick with 152s and slowly work your way up or spend serious money on serious planes and then some money for full immersion into professional flight ops standards. Who in their right mind buys a 900000 USD airplane and then skimps on paying a pro to hold their hand?
Successful people that don’t like to rely on others and have an ego to feed. We all know the feeling…
In business it might work, in aviation it can work. But the consequences can be drastic.
boscomantico wrote:
properly stress the need for correct approach speeds and the fact that all SEP need to be flared all the way so as to touch down with the minimal speed possible, in a positive nose-up attitude.
And why is that?
I never had much going for this „stall type“ of landing and much prefer to fly the airplane onto the runway. I’m not flying a glider.
Some SEPs become really mushy on the controls during this pull pull pull stuff which leads to PIO which aggravates bounced landings.
Just fly the correct speed to the touchdown point, idle, flare, positive touchdown…no need for the sqeeeaaaling of the stall warning.
Always eager to learn though so interested in different views.
MedFlyer wrote:
I re-met recently an old Bulgarian friend-pilot who told me the bad news about a recently qualified Bulgarian PPL .He had the money for that and he chose to quickly step up to a Cirrus SR22.He flew some hours with an instructor and thereafter he set forward for his first SR22 solo flight from Varna to Balchik.Upon arriving Balchik ,he came fast bumping 1-2 times,then went around with full flaps which produced an accelerated stall and loss of control.Parachute deployment didnt produce any benefit from that situation.
That is sad to hear.
Interesting to note that once again a Cirrus burned after crashing. I start to dislike wet wings more and more. This behavior is unheard of from Diamonds, for instance.
Snoopy wrote:
I never had much going for this „stall type“ of landing and much prefer to fly the airplane onto the runway. I’m not flying a glider.
Some SEPs become really mushy on the controls during this pull pull pull stuff which leads to PIO which aggravates bounced landings.
I was taught that high wing loading types should normally be flown onto the runway — not stalled. The reason was not so much mushiness of the controls but that such aircraft are less forgivning if you misjudge a fully stalled flare.
And why is that?
See the evidence. Loads of nosewheel landings, bent firewalls, prop strikes, excessive brake wear, runway excursions and overruns out there. All caused by people landing “hot”.
Due to it’s aerodynamics and “geometry”, the SR22 you actually CAN “land onto the runway” without doing harm to the nosegear (as opposed to say, in a Cessna 182), but only if you don’t exceed about 65 knots on touchdown. But do it at 75 knots and the result will be different. And people (rightly so!) don’t watch the ASI during the flare, so the only cure is to instruct them to flare until the aircraft will settle on its own. Also, people will change types sooner or later, and again, if they get into say a Cessna 182, they will have to flare it properly, otherwise a big “ouch” might ensue.
boscomantico wrote:
And people (rightly so!) don’t watch the ASI during the flare, so the only cure is to instruct them to flare until the aircraft will settle on its own.
I don’t really see any conflict. Of course you have to flare and of course you have to touch down with a nose-up attitude — but that doesn’t mean that the aircraft is stalled. It can very well settle on its own without stalling first.
Is there something really different between the SR22 and say the TB20? In the TB20 I can fly a steep descent final at say 100kt, reducing to 80-85kt on short final, flare at maybe 70kt (I rarely pay much attention, just concentrating on how it feels) and when the speed bleeds off the plane settles down on the tarmac.
Only if landing somewhere really tight, say LSPV, 480m or so, I would carefully aim for 65kt on short final.
Always full flap, in all conditions, per the POH.
