Cirrus Adventure; Winter in Duluth
"Learning is a lifestyle not an event" Ian Berkely (VP Cirrus)
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Cirrus Adventure; Winter in Duluth "Learning is a lifestyle not an event" Ian Berkely (VP Cirrus) |
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| The original plan for my Cirrus training was delivery of the plane from Duluth and training in Ithaca when it was still warm. When the autopilot turned up broken and maintenance was required, "Plan B" was training at the "mother ship" in December. As this evolved I planned to hop a ride with a King Air headed west to Wisconsin. I watched apprehensively as the weather deteriorated that Sunday with the first big winter storm crossing the midwest. Flight planning strategies involved going early and cutting north but as time passed and we still had not committed to a trip, I planned a southern route behind the storm. Finally, I was ready to fly Northwest (Delta) to Duluth (now that is serious suffering!) Fortunately the King Air ride came through and as it turned out we went over the storm at FL 220. We had a direct flight and a little over three hours en route. It was still snowing in Duluth and we shot the ILS 27 in the snow and minus something temperature. Thanks Mike! | ||
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| Silly rabbit, we do not go around weather, we go over it! A King Air is a very capable machine with a service ceiling of 30K. The model 90, originally manufactured in the 1960s has been re certified and recently released as the BE-90GT with larger PT-6 turbine engines with 750 HP and a cruising speed of 275 knots. This plane with a nice comfortable cabin competes with the VLJs in speed and has lots more room (for lots less $$) Taughannock charters this King Air. | ||
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| The hotel I selected on line, Fitger's, was a brewery in the 1800s and remodeled into a hotel in 1984. The ceilings in the rooms are 12 feet and the walls are several feet thick (industrial!) All the fittings are historic and the woodwork is amazing. This is where Garrison Keiler stays when he is in town (Fortunately they give a Cirrus discount) | ||
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| Cirrus is the foremost GA aircraft manufacturer in the US and a very professional outfit. They produce a clean-sheet, high-tech design that has been a best seller for the last four years. Unfortunately, Cirrus (like everyone else) took a beating with the latest financial downturn and is at 1/3 of it's former workforce. The pain continues as I found the woman in charge of my training originally has been laid off! My assigned CFI, Justin Krom was great and was very comprehensive (and fun!) I learned a lot and came to appreciate Cirrus's commitment to safety in both their manufacturing and flight training. Their customer service is amazing and visible at every level of the organization. One of the people in the morning break room was Dale Klapmeier the CEO and one of the two brothers that designed and built their dream into this success story. Cirrus is the bright light for all of general aviation! | ||
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| People fly in from all over the world to purchase or pick-up their aircraft in Duluth. Cirrus provides training on site for those that want (or need) this service. The plane I was flying and bringing home had been in service before to repair the autopilot. It took three more tries but we finally got it right and it flies beautifully. You can see in the center photo Robbie and Joe have the ailerons off and the trim cartridges were found full of grease. Mechanics unfamiliar with these high-tech planes can create more problems than they fix if they do not carefully follow the guidance from Cirrus. Greasing trim cartridges is a classic example apparently. The parts they removed from 8CD became part of a future instructional demonstration for Cirrus Service Centers. The Cirrus Jet pictured on the right is in certification and flies almost every day; everyone needs dreams! | ||
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| Did I tell you how beautiful it was up here in the winter (if I did I lied!) A great place to practice IFR (why look outside?). We had lunch at the "Wings Cafe" and discussed the last training module. All training is "scenario based" engaging the higher order thinking skills. The plane is super safe and a joy to fly, unfortunately the pilots flying it occasionally make poor decisions and get in trouble. Even then they occasionally forget they have a complete parachute escape system and hurt themselves anyway. Cirrus flight training addresses these problems and is very well organized and carefully documented. | ||
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| What a treat to get a peek at the assembly line across the ramp. The Cirrus is a composite airframe so lots of "bonding and baking" is required in huge ovens to make this extremely durable aircraft. The two halves are made in Grand Forks and shipped in to be mated into a fuselage. The pieces are added to this to make the aircraft. | ||
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| These incredibly durable metal pieces are the wing spars that are the structural heart of this aircraft. This unit assembly is fitted and assembled, and mated to the fuselage fairly late in the assembly process. The miles of wiring in this high-tech aircraft is a considerable amount of the finishing process. | ||
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| Add some wheels and wings (and don't forget the Continental IO-550 engine) and you have the airplane ready for the finishing line. The quality control on these aircraft is legendary with a very demanding clientele. Though as much as possible is "assembly line" technology, all planes are essentially hand built and "craftsmanship" is essential. Another important attribute of the Cirrus aircraft is the continual improvement that is obvious at the factory and in the showroom. It seems every year they analyze previous performance and make it even better, tweaking the design and improving the training. I have nothing but admiration for this company and their products, and now I am an approved instructor! | ||
| See the trip home here | ||