What do you guys think about a Cirrus as a club plane? My club currently has two 172s and a 182 and are looking for a fourth plane.

Local flight training place has a SR-20 and it flies almost constantly. BH

They are higher up on the food chain as far as insurance costs go.

Coming from a 172/182, you may find the insurance to be a bit of a shock. I'd talk to a broker before you get too deep, as that may be the nail in the coffin (from a practical perspective).

My club has had great luck with our C33A Deb, though.

Insurance was estimated at $650/month. To be PIC in the Cirrus, members would have to have 200 hours, their instrument rating and have 25 hours of instruction by a Cirrus certified instructor.

During the discussion it came up from a few members that a Cirrus would not be a good plane for a club plane. I was just curious what you guys thought about the plane itself being a good candidate for a club.

We decided not to pursue this SR22 at this time. I didn't have strong feelings about it either way.

In one of the clubs I used to fly in, the 200 hrs and Instrument rating would wipe out 3/4 of the club members. So, now this becomes an investment for a small % of the members. If the club is large enough, I think it would be an excellent club airplane and would probably get flown non-stop. I think you have to look at who in the club can qualify today and in the near future.

Plus One Flyers in San Diego has two SR-22s, and they're very heavily booked.

That's crazy - you'd be looking at probably $10,000 to get checked out. If you have 4 guys who are interested, that $40K would be a good down payment on a separate partnership. Or just get a $50K four-place bonanza and self-insure.

It's not crazy. You just can't jump in that airplane and fly it safely. Many of the members of this club are not that experienced. In my view the requirements were reasonable and I would expect that similar requirements would have been required for a TAA G36.

The deal the club had on the aircraft was very good, not likely to be available again, and it's too bad it was rejected.

I flew a SR-22 club plane for about 3 years. There are lots of 20's and 22's at flying clubs in our area. They are in the $250-$300 per hour range. Iirc the initial check out was 10 hrs for insurance.

Something not mentioned but most insurance carriers require the Cirrus CFI (so your club CFI) to be a CCIP. I believe CCIP renewal's for CFI's run around $2500 if I have been hearing that correctly? So in addition to the annual insurance premium for the aircraft you may be looking at an additional fixed cost for your CFI to attend CCIP recurrent to be re-certified every year. Not ALL insurers require this however but worthy of mention as most do.

I've got an SR22 I am getting ready to sell. Maybe I should go this route instead in SoCal... hmmm...

-jason

Tony, i didn't mean to suggest a 25 hour checkout was inappropriate but it's still crazy. The fixed costs involved in that setup would not be sustainable. I still say a partnership makes much more sense.

Charles,

As I understood it the plane would rent "dry" for about $100 per hour. Club instructor charge (is a CSIP) is $40 per hour. Gasoline is $4.25 per hour and let's assume 12 GPH for training. So, $190 per hour. Call it $5,000 to get checked out. That is a lot but there were apparently 20 pilots, with an IFR rating and 200 hours (the other requirements) who were willing to do it.

You have to bear in mind that these guys probably have 0 time in a complex airplane, or anything more complicated than a steam gauge 182. Many, if not most would barely make the 200 hour minimum and fly less than 50 hours per year, some a lot less. Many/most would take quite a while to get their 25 hours in. You are talking about moving up to a much more complicated, and faster, airplane. I'm sure the underwriter looked at the club's training regime, history, average pilot experience, etc. and based the premium on that.

If, in a club environment, you had more experience pilots, flying more frequently, etc. perhaps the requirements would have been less. Still, I've seen 500 hour pilots, with IR rating and a couple hundred hours of Bonanza time, no accidents, glass panel experience, etc. require 10-20 hours dual not in a "club" environment.

I'm sorry that the proposal didn't go through as it would have been a great option for me when I ultimately move up.

You could put your plane in Plus One. Both Cirri are at MYF. I bet the CRQ crowd would welcome one.