Cirrus at WMU

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turbojet28

Well-Known Member
Can anyone "in the know" from Western Michigan University confirm plans to replace the fleet of 40 172s with Cirrus aircraft (either SR-20 or 22, not exactly sure)? I have been hearing many, many rumors from students, but can't seem to find an official word anywhere. I am rather interested as I will be heading off to WMU in the fall.

I hope they keep some of the 172s to at least do the PPL training in. I am glad I got my PPL in high school in a 152 as I wouldn't necessarily like to be a primary student in an SR-22! Cool toys, but lets hope they see that PPL training is much more than learning how to operate the glass. Now, the IFR and comm are different stories, but...
 
Though I have no affiliation with WMU I find it very hard to believe that they would replace their fleet with very expensive aircraft that are not designed for training. Cirrus aircraft have some flight charactoristics that are very uncommon in training aircraft, for example, a cirrus is hard to stall and the recovery some what different, the recovery for a spin consists of pulling the lever above the pilot's head, that being the parachute. Again this is only an assumtion, but I don't see it happening. Good luck with school...WMU has a great flight program and flight team (look into it...a very good looking team member too)
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PhotoPilot may know more than I, but I'll try to answer your question.

What I heard (from an administrator) is that a Letter of Intent has been signed and they are now in the process of final negotiations (terms, numbers, etc.). The Cirrus reps have been around a lot the last few weeks (the last year, really).

As far as transition, they're not going to dump all the Skyhawks at once. Most likely scenario is starting new students in AZO in the SR20, and then when they move over to BTL they'll get some more planes and continue the fleet transition. A few SR22s are in the plans, as well.

I got the chance to fly the SR22 over the winter, and it really wasn't that bad as far as difficulty. However, a zero hour student pilot would be in way over his/her head, which is why new students won't be flying it.

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Cirrus aircraft have some flight charactoristics that are very uncommon in training aircraft, for example, a cirrus is hard to stall

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Oh, so that's a bad thing???
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Stall entry/recovery: Didn't seem any different to me.
Spin recovery: Yeah the parachute is the only approved recovery, b/c Cirrus decided it wasn't cost effective to certify their planes for spins. (I do believe the test pilot came down to demonstrate that you could recover with PARE)

And finally...
We may hear lots of things, but as I've noticed with any government decision, I'll believe that we're getting the planes when I see them on the ramp. Who knows what the timeline is for actually getting them.
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I was just saying that it is not a good training aircraft. Recently I flew a cirrus with a rep and he specifically said that the cirrus was not meant to be a trainer...that is all i was getting at.
 
As an instrument rated private pilot currently flying the commercial course and a Senior at WMU, I can assure you WMU is getting 25 Cirrus S-20's and 2 S-22's. 5 S-20's will begin arriving mid October and we will continue to receive about 5 a month. We will SLOWLY be phasing out the 172's over that time period, but I do believe WMU is going to keep about 5 172's for a bit.
 
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As an instrument rated private pilot currently flying the commercial course and a Senior at WMU, I can assure you WMU is getting 25 Cirrus S-20's and 2 S-22's. 5 S-20's will begin arriving mid October and we will continue to receive about 5 a month. We will SLOWLY be phasing out the 172's over that time period, but I do believe WMU is going to keep about 5 172's for a bit.

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I'm also a student at WMU. Flying the Commercial one here right now. I went up in the Sr20 & Sr22 When we had them here. Great little planes, but I don't really think that the instructors here are going to teach students to rely on the parachute. That can get a little expensive IMO. Besides as a student I wouldn't want to be the first to pull the chute it would absolutely be a last resort. The only thing I don't really like about the plane is the feel of that side stick. Thats going to take some getting used to. It's almost like playing a video game instead of piloting.
 
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