There is nothing wrong with a reasonably skilled
and knowledgeable pilot flying a Cirrus. A little
silly to have the gear hung out there all the time,
but whatever.
However, their entire business model seems to
be built upon getting unskilled and inexperienced
pilots into Cirruses, making spectacularly poor
decisions with even worse basic skills to back
them up.
Their marketing message seems to be that if
you don't want to bother to spend the time to
learn to fly, fly a Cirrus instead.
As you might imagine, this horrifies us old-timers.
"Pull early, pull often" I believe is what they are
taught, with respect to the parachute.
[url=
http://airfactsjournal.com/2012/05/dick ... us-pilots/]
http://airfactsjournal.com/2012/05/dick ... us-pilots/[/url]
[quote]All Cirrus airplanes have an airframe parachute, too.
Without the chute there would have been many more fatal
accidents because presumably a pilot does not pull the chute
until he feels for certain it is necessary to save his ass.
The Cirrus was the first light airplane with a glass cockpit,
too, and Cirrus has been a leader in using the latest
whistles and bells to help pilots be better informed.
Despite all this, the Cirrus SR-22 has a higher fatal accident
rate than most similar airplanes from other manufacturers.
Why, with every safety advantage, has this come to be true?
It can only be because of one thing: the Cirrus pilot.[/quote]