Fleet Growth

As of about one week ago, our club acquired a fourth airplane to help offset club growth and give club members more flexibility in the type of aircraft they are able to rent. The process of purchasing a new airplane extended over approximately two years. The process first began with focus group meetings broken down across annual pilot flying hours. It would of course, make the most sense to create these types of groups because pilots who produce more income for the club are naturally going to be the ones flying any new airplane more frequently. A pilot flying 1 hour annually should not overshadow the voice of a pilot who flies demonstratably more.

Groups were assigned, feedback was generated and thoughts were organized into new aircraft options. These were: Diamond DA-40, Cirrus SR-20 and a Cessna 182. We elected to focus our efforts on the Cirrus SR-20. We used a pre-buy moderator called Savvy, who provide some of the front-end maintenance checks before we commit to the purchase of an aircraft. For anyone not familiar with the process, a pre-buy is an essential ingredient to ensuring you don’t purchase something you will regret down the line. A pre-buy takes the aircraft through it’s paces, running things like oil samples, airframe checks, airworthiness directives, etc. It ensures the aircraft has been in compliance with all the maintenace work required of it.

Two aircraft were found for potential purchase, both were type Cirrus SR-20. The second one, N700ZG, was based in South Carolina with a motivated seller. This is the airplane we purchased.

From an equipment standpoint, the SR-20 comes equipped with a lot of technology I have had no prior experience using. This includes an Avidyne Entegra EX5000C, a completely new primary flight display, a parachute deployment system for emergencies, and a Garmin GMA 320 (a lesser version of the infamous 340 unit). Additionally, the Avidyne MFD packs a lot of data including digital engine monitoring, moving maps, and electronic check lists.

Structurally, the aircraft packs a punch with a six cyclinder, Continental IO-360-ES fuel injected aircraft. The doors open like a Ferrari, and the cruise speed is somewhere in the range of 150 KTAS. That’s a significant boost-up from the Piper Archer I’m so used to flying.

The next post will dive into more of the technical details related to the aircraft, discussing some of the performance differences between the Cirrus SR-20 and the Piper Archer III.