CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR20

The SR20 is Cirrus's smaller composite single: fixed gear, side-stick controls, a big glass panel, five seats and a whole-airframe parachute built into the fuselage. It is used as a trainer by universities and flight academies and as a first aeroplane by owners who want modern equipment and the parachute. The generations matter more on the SR20 than on most types because the engine changed. From 1999 to 2003 the aircraft have conventional flight instruments with a multi-function display and a 200 hp Continental. The G2 of 2004 made the Avidyne Entegra glass panel standard; the G3 of 2008 brought the revised wing and gear and the Garmin-based Cirrus Perspective flight deck; the G5 of 2013 added the five-seat cabin. The G6 of January 2017 is the real break: a 215 hp Lycoming IO-390 replaced the Continental, saving enough weight to add about 150 lb of useful load, with the Perspective+ flight deck. The G7 of 2024 added the Perspective Touch+. A 2018 G6 aircraft has the Garmin Perspective+ flight deck, a digital autopilot with envelope protection and standard ADS-B.

The parachute is the reason most owners buy one; it has demonstrably saved lives in situations where a conventional aeroplane would have been lost, and it must be repacked roughly every ten years at a cost of several thousand dollars — a scheduled expense that is often deferred and then shows up on a purchase. The airframe is composite, which means no corrosion but also that damage repair is specialist work and paint and finish matter more. Performance is unremarkable: 155 knots on the same fuel a Mooney uses for 160, and about 660 lb of cabin load with full tanks, so five seats means partial fuel. Insurance for a low-time owner is available but Cirrus-specific factory training is effectively mandatory and worth doing.