I stand corrected I guess. I actually rent out of KSDL, where both of those schools are located. I rent at
www.leopardaviation.com Leopard has a Cirrus. I was told that due to insurance you can only fly it dual with a flight instructor. M instructor for my checkout flight said that same goes for all the school on the field. That you had to have a crap tonne of hours/experience in type, so to speak. Due to insurance before you can just blast off single pilot. I still agree that one shouldn't be doing flight training in a Cirrus, until maybe Commercial rating. But to each there own.
@Richman is correct - insurance for GA is going up all over the place, and in certain categories it's downright comical to see the premiums/quotes. However, you do have to shop around. Normally, I don't like using brokers but when I was shopping for my airplane, I found the experience and knowledge of an insurance broker invaluable. With zero time in type, I found quotes for liability plus $60K in hull coverage on an RV ranging from $1200 a year to more than $5000 - some companies just don't want the business. Had I been trying to buy a Glasair or a Lancair, insurance would have been almost impossible.
The same goes for schools. My school's insurance runs with a no-subrogation policy, which is amazingly advantageous for the renter in the event something happens, and I know of no other school that does this. You want to see a tough insurance situation? Try renting a tailwheel solo with very little time.
Yet a woman who taught at my home field was able to work that out with renters who had as little as 25 tailwheel time for solo in a 7KCAB. Probably couldn't do that today, but it's been possible. The point is that don't assume that insurance situation is the same everywhere.
*Shrug* if someone is gonna fly own a Cirrus, it makes sense to train in one.
Corrected so I can agree with you.
@bucksmith pointed out to me one day that if Cirrus had their way, the Private and Instrument Ratings would be all rolled up into one rating. And in the context of that specific airframe, it makes a lot of sense. The Cirrus is designed to be a go-places XC machine - it's not a "fun" airplane by any standard of aviation fun in my opinion, but it's extremely capable for that mission - delivering occupants to other fun things.
Then again, I've only got 1.8 in an SR22. It was enough to admire the capability but not enough to fall in love with it.
If one just wants to fly a Cirrus as a renter from time to time, I would argue against doing primary instruction in it for all of the obvious reasons. It just really depends on the goals of the student/renter. Cirrus very accurately identified a niche of the market they could serve, and a clever way to market safety to the significant others of an affluent customer base. I've said before that I thought this was brilliant. And, what's really interesting to me, is that BRS is starting to find its way into the experimental market; there are a number of RV10s out there sporting BRS. That's a good thing, in my opinion.
eliteflighttraining.com
www.scottsdaleflighttraining.com
