FIKI Cirrus

The problem is the technology is pushed in the sale over pilot ability. This comes from talking with people who bought the 22 after being told "the plane can fly itself!" Notice I didn't say pilot. Didn't have a license.

It's not likely that the experienced pilot will get into a jam, but the 20/22 is well on its way to being the chute-equipped doctor killer of this century. Head down, ap on, gps programmed -- away they go.

Thy chute can't overcome stupid. Gravity wins.
 
Another Cirrus sux thread...Maybe we should include this with all the AOPA threads.. It gets old.

People is just slow to change to newer technology. We should only buy airplanes that are open cockpit, no autopilot, GPS, or VOR. We should only have NDB approaches that way only the "real" pilots can fly.
 
That said, My company paid me to go see the Vision Jet to get my opinion, They are thinking about buying one to replace our SR22's. The owner of Cirrus made a big speech about how this jet was designed so that owners would not have to hire a professional pilot but they could easily fly it themselves. It made me want to choke him.
 
The owner of Cirrus made a big speech about how this jet was designed so that owners would not have to hire a professional pilot but they could easily fly it themselves. It made me want to choke him.


Point. Set. Match.

THAT is the problem -- forgoing skill for gizmos. New technology is great as long as it is a tool available for use and not a crutch that HAS to be used.
 
Point. Set. Match.

THAT is the problem -- forgoing skill for gizmos. New technology is great as long as it is a tool available for use and not a crutch that HAS to be used.

Ugh...

I think I'm going to light this thread up go back and forth with someone for 40+ posts so maybe just maybe this thread can be locked and put in the mind numbing topics so we can keep from having this ridiculous conversations in the future.
 
Ugh...

I think I'm going to light this thread up go back and forth with someone for 40+ posts so maybe just maybe this thread can be locked and put in the mind numbing topics so we can keep from having this ridiculous conversations in the future.

"Ugh is right.

Knock yourself out training button-pushing robots and forget about the airmanship.

The Bonanza (once they got the fix on the V) is a great aircraft. People with more money than experience have done a fantastic job of either pulling it apart in the air or driving it into the ground for almost 60 years. It got a bad rap, too. This is no different.
 
Yep...you know me to well.

You're right. I don't know you, and you don't know me.

However, I infer from your posts/tone that it's ok to use the TAA as a crutch for subpar piloting skills, AND that the precious chute can can always save the day.

If Piper or Cessna had taken this approach, I'd have the same opinion.
 
You're right. I don't know you, and you don't know me.

However, I infer from your posts/tone that it's ok to use the TAA as a crutch for subpar piloting skills, AND that the precious chute can can always save the day.

If Piper or Cessna had taken this approach, I'd have the same opinion.

Do you have SR22 FIKI IFR IMC PIC NGHT SOLO time?

No?

STFU and GTFO with your WTFO.

I just wanted to use as many acronyms as I could, I'm not really a hater.
 
So now that we are well into the winter months, I was wondering if anyone ever ended up flying a FIKI Cirrus?

How did it handle? How was ice build up on the unprotected areas'?

On COPA (Cirrus owners and pilots association) there are quite a few pilots (and pictures) that talk about how it performed in Ice. It seemed as if the recognition lights, spinner, around the cowling, gear and antenna's were the only place that ice ever built up in Moderate ice doing practice approaches. One pilot there reported that in Severe ice, it would build up, get really slushy and eventually fly off when in "normal" mode.

The POH actually requires pilots that fly into known ice to take the approved Icing course from Cirrus.

I heard from some of my caravan buddies that they favor the newer TKS system over the boots.
 
Don't know about the Cirrus, but TKS works really, really well on the 210. On the Baron, not so much. Make of that what you will.
 
Regarding the FIKI Cirrus, I haven't personally flown one, but there is one based at my home airport. I've talked to pilots (friends of the owner) who have flown in it, in icing conditions, and they say it works great.

I also think Cessna should seriously consider putting out a FIKI 206 and FIKI Corvalis. The Corvalis is hands down a better plane than the Cirrus, but I think the lack of FIKI is a big drawback. I recently delayed taking a cross country trip in a Corvalis for no other reason than ice. Even when I took the trip the following day, I had to fly a full hour out of my way in order to stay clear of ice.

Pilots who buy Corvalis/SR-22 class aircraft need the ability to fly in known ice if they're going to use their aircraft with the same reliability as airlines, which most of them intend to do.

Regarding the Cirrus haters...don't knock it 'til you've tried it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--Cirri are good planes. I've flown them and like them. I've also flown with/trained some solid pilots in Cirri. It's the the company training program that's lacking, not the aircraft or pilots who fly them.
 
Didn't Columbia have a ceramic thermal leading edge that was used for this?

Yes, they have it as an option, but it's not a true FIKI airplane. It's more along the lines of how Cirrus had the TKS system long before they got the FIKI certification.
 
It al comes down to marketing. The cirrus marketing department is VERY good. They get people that don't have the experience and/or judgement, yet have loads of cash to drool over their airplanes and buy them.

Its a shame that these folks (marketing and said pilots) have created "V-bonanza II" in the eyes of many pilots. But said bashers, need to remember that these folks would be doing the same thing in a 210, or a bonanza that they are doing in a cirrus if they were flying those instead. If someone is going to be judgmental toward all cirrus pilots just because they fly a cirrus, I'll be just as judgmental right back, thinking that they are an arrogant prick that doesn't understand that for the most part people crash airplanes and if he or she can't realize that, they are going to be the next one to making a smoking hole in the ground in their non-cirrus, than me flying a cirrus.

Yes there are glaring downfalls in how cirrus trains people, but if they have these people that don't have the experience and/or judgement, honestly telling them to "just use the technology" is probably the best thing to do if they are going to fly the airplane. In reality, the best thing to do would be to kick them out of the air, but we all know that will never happen.

As for the origional question, i've flown a fiki cirrus once that was one of their demo planes for just little bit, but it was a nice VFR summer day, so as far as how the system works, i'm not the one to ask.
 
I also think Cessna should seriously consider putting out a FIKI 206 and FIKI Corvalis.

You can get it. I was at the Weeping Wings factory in Salina a couple weeks ago and saw a 400 and a 206 there getting fitted. They have STCs for a lot of airplanes, more than I realized. There was an old Saratoga and a couple Bonanzas and Barons getting fitted, too.
 
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