I don't think it is on the SR22T with FIKI. It only has to be demonstrated free from icing.

My FIKI Seneca II air filters were not heated. They were demonstrated free of ice and they also had spring-loaded doors that opened if the filter was blocked for any reason which could also be manually opened with a cockpit control.

The stall warning vanes and the fuel tank vents were heated.

How about good ADM...and a parachute...which is how Cirrus pilots should operate.

Surely I am not the only pilot that owned both.
Loved my Columbia for many reasons.
Liked the Cirrus much more than I thought I would.

Cirrus is a great traveling airplane with a few shortcomings compared to Columbia.

Columbia 350...rudder too small...never EVER spin one. Mine was a 350
Columbia 400 larger rudder. Spins no problem.

Cirrus SR22 NA G5...big rudder...spin certified by yours truly....not on purpose. I was horsN around the day before I sold it and ended up looking at a windshield full of terra firma.
Not a fully developed spin as I corrected immediately.

Recovered just a quick as my Citabria or the Champ I used to fly.

Well, a single-engine piston airplane is certified for FIKI, it's certified for FIKI. It does all the same tests and flies behind the same C130 as any other airplane.

Note that "backup things" are not required for certification part-23 in piston twins or singles. The stuff you mention in jets part of the transport category and/or turbine category airplanes. Part 25 or whatever certification basis.

In any case, I always look at FIKI as a way to legally file and launch into forecast icing when there just isn't any, or a way to get out of something you didn't mean to get into.

the term" Just become you can, doesnt mean you should" comes to mind....

Ummm. what do you do if the TKS pump quits and you are in solid moderate icing at the MEA?

You are basically betting your life on a TKS pump.

no thanks. [/quote]
There are two completely separate tanks with their own pumps in a FIKI Cirrus, along with two separate ways to power them via two buses and two alternators.

The Garmin Perspective system monitors the TKS system, including the fluid levels and flow rates, and continuously updates the duration and range available, and displays that on the MFD. There is no other plane this well integrated. It's far better than the Cheyennes and King Airs I used to fly. With boots there is always a chance the timer will fail, or the boots will leak, or that run back icing will kill all the lift. There is no run back icing on a FIKI Cirrus. It just can't stick to the slippery surfaces.

Ummm. what do you do if the TKS pump quits and you are in solid moderate icing at the MEA?

You are basically betting your life on a TKS pump.

no thanks. [/quote]
There are two completely separate tanks with their own pumps in a FIKI Cirrus, along with two separate ways to power them via two alternators.[/quote]

It has two batteries I assume also, to be FIKI, just like the Mooney’s. There are two tanks in the Mooney but they pull from both at the same time in the belly. Doesn’t Cirrus do that also?

Thats the terrifying thing about ice and single engine pistons. Do they have backup heated pitot/static systems? or backup heated vents? We have all of this in jets, and some jets like the Citation Bravo are also TKS, but I'll be damned if I would launch into a situation as described above. There's a dang good reason everyone else was grounded, and it wasn't necessarily because they were not equipped for it. [/quote]

The same FAA people that certified all the previous turbine and turboprop aircraft, and other piston planes for icing, certified the Cirrus FIKI too. It followed the same rigorous process. TKS has one unique advantage over boots and bleed air. The ice will not stick to anything that has glycol on it. There is no such thing as run back icing in a properly equipped TKS plane. The only downside is TKS fluid duration, and the Cirrus has a system to monitor the TKS consumption and advise the pilot on the duration available. The 8 gallons onboard are more than enough for moderate icing encounters for the duration of fuel on board.

This reminds of another nice plus for the Columbia: The electrical system is dual-redundant.

The Columbia has two alternators, both of sufficient capacity to run the aircraft alone, and two full-size batteries. In the event of an electrical, the L and R bus can be joined with a cross-tie switch. Essential systems are on a bus that always gets power from both electrical systems. It is much like the electrical system on a twin-engine airplane, except that both alternators are mechanically driven by the same engine. As long as it turns, at least one will produce electricity.

The SR22 has a different approach, with a secondary electrical bus and battery of lesser capacity.

The FIKI Cirrus is pretty good in icing, but the fluid runs out fast, and since you have to run it all the time even in light icing conditions, since it doesn’t have separate propellor anti-ice controls, those tanks run down pretty quickly. You get ice on the spinner, all 3 gear, the antenna, the cowling and the prop antiice is not perfect. The air filter ices over and the alternate air pops open giving you a CAS if you aren’t already on edge. The increase in drag and decrease in lift really drops the performance. The normally aspirated Cirrus has negative climb rates published in the POH at modest altitudes, and the turbo suffers a good climb penalty as well. But the biggest limit is getting in ice free air, and sometimes that is in the flight levels and getting the Cirrus into and staying in the flight levels without pressurization, requires extra enthusiasm. Especially with pax. Pretty good, but comparing it to a FIKI turbine?? That is a different world.

And this is where the TTx is in a different class and is more like a turbine. Because most of the TKS system and POH supplement is a copy/paste from the Caravan (makes working on the proportioning units in the vertical stabilizer hilariously awful) one chart is the maximum enroute altitude with iced up unprotected surfaces. Spoiler alert, worst-case scenario is FL190. I typically ran with the 6 gallon minimum for FIKI to maximize useful load, used the system on climb and descent, and don’t have any scary stories to tell.

How does FL190 compare to the SR22T?

Got the chance to fly in one finally. There were a lot of things I liked and some that I didn't like. I was surprised at how little room there is. I'm only 5'11" and my hair was rubbing the ceiling the entire time. The control stick is so far forward that I had to slide the seat forward till I was almost bumping my knees into the dash. Even then, I had to reach for the stick. Not well placed IMO. Comparing to my Evo, the Evo is very well thought out and has amazing ergonomics in comparison.

I really wanted to be amazed by the airplane, but I have to say that I wasn't. Performance wise it delivered, but I just wasn't comfortable in the plane. If the Cirrus is worse than the 400, how are they selling so many???

Depends a bit on the year of the Columbia. The earlier ones were equipped with "sport seats". The better seats are the Oregon Aero seats. The Oregon Aero seats are so much more comfortable that they became standard equipment as virtually everyone who tried them, ordered them.

The Oregon Aero seats also have different size bottom cushions available. Thin, medium, thick. They are just velcro down on the frame and labeled on the bottom. I'm 6'2" and running the medium standard cushions with a few years on them.

Most likely you were flying in a very "forward" position on the seat. Do you have short legs and a long torso? I am 5'11" and find it to be extremely comfortable but I have long letgs. (33" inseam). If you have short legs (which is indicated to me by the fact you were pulling the seat so far forward that your knees touched) then the headroom would decrease as the seat rails move up as you move forward (and conversely of course the further back on the rails you are the more headroom you have). From where I fly its incredibly comfortable with the stick position absolutely perfect. I also fly with the medium thickness Oregon seat. The G36 Bonanza I had was MUCH less ergonomically pleasing.

Also do you fly "straight up" in the seat or do you have some recline in it. Perhaps its my attraction to Ferraris and such but I find the straight up position is EXTREMELY tiring in any form of vehicle so I never use it. This could also lead to a loss of headroom if you are using that.

Well, a single-engine piston airplane is certified for FIKI, it's certified for FIKI. It does all the same tests and flies behind the same C130 as any other airplane.

Note that "backup things" are not required for certification part-23 in piston twins or singles. The stuff you mention in jets part of the transport category and/or turbine category airplanes. Part 25 or whatever certification basis.

In any case, I always look at FIKI as a way to legally file and launch into forecast icing when there just isn't any, or a way to get out of something you didn't mean to get into.