And it was quite an experience.

EXTERIOR:
Not much difference in between the G3 and the G5, new colour scheme and new seat design and panel finishing (carbon accent). beautiful paint job, the cockpit is extremely well done and the new doors seals are seriously reducing the cockpit noise.
the main difference inside is that they redesigned the CAPS thus allowing more space on the back seats. You can now seat, comfortably, two adults or three young kids.
the seats are quite comfortable although firm.
The plane I flew had an XI finish and was metallic silver/brilliant black outside with dark red with carbon panel and carbon accents on the seats.

AVIONICS:
Obviously the Garmin PERSPECTIVE is perfectly integrated with the plane. most people here know the possibilities of the G1000 so I am not going to describe them.
nevertheless I want to describe my experience with three specific items, ESP, the ''blue button'' and CIRRUS ''Perspective Global Connect''
The ESP is amazing, if you're in a steep turn and then try to overbank beyond 60° then the side stick take over, push the airplane back to max. 60°and give it back to you.It's like your CFI telling you ''hey! what are you doing you idiot!!'' .
VERY reassuring indeed. Its also correct the pitch attitude and overspeed when descending .
The '' blue button'' is different, if your get disoriented you just push it and the GFC700 quick in immediately and level the plane. You can, then, disconnect the AP and resume your flight.
the''Perspective Global Connect'' first gives you everything you want, and need, to know about the weather including Radar image, METAR, TAF,SIGMET etc... all integrated on the MFD.second,it allows you to make phone calls and send/receive text messages from/to everywhere in the world.

I have tried all of the above and I can tell you it works! and its somehow magic.

the only danger of all that is that it gives a sense of invulnerability and may makes you believe that nothing can happen to you. Add the CAPS and you might believe that you're ''IRONMAN''at the end you're as safe as yours pilot skills are and in the SR22 sometimes it's hard to remember.

FLYING:
The side stick is extremely responsive and you need all of ten minutes to get used to it
taking off, you have just to take it VERY SLIGHTLY backward and up you go, more back pressure is likely to make your tail touching the ground a bad and costfull idea, 102% power get you a 1700 fpm rate of climb up to 5000 feet where we stabilized (airport is at sea level and yesterday we had 997QNH and 18°c)
AP engaged and 80% gives you 169KT TAS an 14.3 GPH. we had a 10 KT wind in the rear quarter and some slight turbulences and the plane was rock stable. amazing.

When disconnecting the AP and hand flying the plane I quickly realized that the only thing you need to use are the trims. this plane is flown with the trims and NOT with the stick.The wing to wing hard roll is extremely precise, fast, although the plane seem a little ''heavy'' in my hands.
We did a power off stall and it was very gentle with a lot of warning . I haven't been allowed to do a full power stall.
downwind was done at 110 kt and I was warned not to do my base turn below 100kt with flaps 40%, with full flaps on final we VERY QUICKLY decelerated to 80 kts and I had permanently to add power to keep that speed, could be tricky, 70kts over the numbers and you need to flare VERY late and to keep the plane quite flat at touch down with the stick almost full backward at 70kts (the CIRRUS pilot told me it was too slow)
very efficient brakes on the G5 (they have been modified) .

The CIRRUS G5 is a very ''easy to fly'' plane even for a non experienced pilot like me the landing pattern has to be flown ''by the numbers'' of you could very quickly get in trouble but the plane is extremely stable and a stabilized approach is not a problem.
the flaps are decelerating the aircraft VERY well ( ) and keeping the plane within the parameters is not really a problem.
Last, but not least if you bring your dog, the plane is very quiet when wearing the BOSE but VERY VERY noisy without them.....

And on Thursday I am flying the BEECHCRAFT G36...... my guess, at this stage, is that is going to be a very difficult choice. Let see what happens.

PS:Sorry guys for the poor English and the lack of more technical details but....
PS2: Thanks to TONY CALDWELL for all the info he gave me before my flight

What did they do about useful load? Any changes since the last certification?
Also, what is the price of a new SR22 G5 loaded with all the options?

And you are flying a g36Tn, I assume? With all the goodies, no, not factory ones...Then loading them with 1400 lbs of fuel and folks?

What is your mission and then I MIGHT be able to tell you which one you'll like.
They are both great machines.
But any fly-off won't do anything but burn avgas, my friend.

PMC

Yes, they did increase the useful load,the certified gross weight is know 3600 lbs.
unfortunately they increase the price as well.

delivered in France (15kusd ferry) including DME, AIR COND. and CIRRUS GLOBAL CONNECT the price is :$891 585,00 + 20% sales taxes (vat) =$1 069 902,00.

if you include non factory adds on to the BO to have it similarly equipped. like FIKI,GENESIS CONVERSION,TURBO and
IRIDIUM/VOICE/DATA//WEATHER the BEECHCRAFT is about 120 k$ more expensive for a similarly loaded aircraft....

But I believe that the price difference is a non issue since, in my opinion, after checking the market in Europe, you recover most if not all the difference on selling the plane.The BONANZA pre-owned prices are definitely higher than CIRRUS'S.

Well, no, obviously not a TN since I am going to fly a factory demonstrator.No FIKI no GLOBAL CONNECT/IRIDIUM and no tip tanks.

But if you add a TURBO ALLEY and a GENESIS conv. your gross weight increase is 400lbs total out of which you have to subtract the weight of the adds on plus the weight of the FIKI conversion. HOW MUCH IS LEFT??
anyway most of my missions will be 200/500 miles three peoples and LOTS OF luggages and from time to time my dog.
2/3 times a year 700/800 miles going to Denmark with a stopover in Frankfurt so I have no problems with either planes.
in My opinion loading 6 in a BO is as stupid as loading 5 in a Cirrus.But obviously the Beechcraft is more flexible and clearly more practical to load big items.

Nice report, thank you for posting!

Jean-michel,

If you buy the Cirrus, learn to use the small muscles in your fingers and wrists to control the plane. Only use trim to change flying config not to steer the plane. It takes a little practice but ends up being easier to fly this way and may save you some a/p servos.

Great write, looking forward to the Bonanza write up.

Tim

Very exciting Jean-michel! Although they have quite a difference in cabin space, that it going to be a difficult decision for you. If you have any missions with 4 people and overnight bags, the Bo is going to be hard to beat. If the majority of your flying is just you, the SR22 is going to be hard to beat. I've gone back and forth between the two many, many times myself.

It would be frustrating to me to have to buy a new G36, only to take it to one or more shops to get all the 'stuff' I wanted for it (tips, TAT TN, TKS). With Cirrus, you can get all you want right from the factory. That's a big advantage. However, the Bo can haul a load and has far more cabin flexibility. The G36 doesn't have quite the UL as the older models but it's still going to beat a G5 Cirrus, even with their added UL. The other disadvantage to the Cirrus is that the baggage compartment, although large, is only rated for 130lbs (as I recall). With the BO, you can take out seats and put more baggage in those areas, which you cannot in the Cirrus.

Can't wait to hear your write up on the G36...

Flexibility in missions is why i recently chose the Bo over the g5. If you ever fly 4 (2couples and bags) the Bo has more room, especially if you play golf.

I can also load 4 guys (170-180lb) and clubs although I have to manage fuel accordingly and that obviously affects range. The g5 simply can not handle this mission.

In fairness, my Bo needed tn, tips and tks to get the kind of utility offered by the g5 but resale of Bo is better. G5 is a little faster but not enough to make much of a time difference in your proposed missions.

No comment on chute. That has been debated to death on this site.

If flexibility is important to you, the Bo is the answer. If you are always 2-3 and dog and no clubs or skis then much harder call. Either way you are going to have fun in the process.

Look forward to your next post.

Mark

Jean-michel,

Thanks for the report, I'm glad you enjoyed the experience and I look forward to your G36 evaluation.

I am curious - did your salesman actually say 110 knots on downwind or is that a converted number from KPM? The reason I ask is that Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilots teach 100 KIAS on downwind flaps 50% abeam touch down point, 90 knots on base and flaps 100% while turning base (no possibility of split flaps in a Cirrus) and 78-80 KIAS on final.

The ESP engages at 45 degrees of bank and never had any value to me at all until the other evening. I was flying on a dark night with some light ground fog getting night current. Climbing in the pattern and turning from crosswind to downwind I felt my instructor on the stick and said "why are you pushing on the stick?". He replied "I'm not!". That's when I realized I was over banking the airplane - ESP was pushing back on the stick - and I was glad for the help and reminder.

One last point - in fairness - ESP and the GFC 700 are wonderful tools but they cannot, and don't, fix everything. There are bank and pitch limits beyond which they can't recover the airplane and are thoroughly covered in the POH.

Paul - I believe Jean-michel flew a NA Cirrus so the comparison would be with an NA G36.

P.S. Mon français n'est pas aussi bon que votre anglais

Tim,

This is how you should also fly a Bonanza!

Tim,

This is how you should also fly a Bonanza!

Matt,

ESP will let you bank the aircraft anywhere you want. What it does, when turned on, (you can turn it off - and that is very helpful when practicing stalls), is act like a stick shaker when you bank past 45 degrees or pitch up or down excessively. It pushes back slightly in those conditions requiring the pilot to give a little more force to exceed the bank or pitch angle. It also has overspeed protection and will pitch the aircraft up if VNE is approached with the AP off. When ESP "corrects" it does not do so to straight and level. Typically, bank angle, if you took your hand off the yoke would be returned to 25 degrees for example. ESP IS NOT active when the AP is engaged.

I think its use is in pilot distraction situations like the one I described, or perhaps a hand flown approach in IMC.

The blue LVL button on the GFC 700 is the thing I point out to passengers in my CAPS briefing so they will know about it in the event I croak. It seems to give great piece of mind. I have worked it out a number of times and it works very well.

Here is some more information on the system for anyone who is interested:

http://www8.garmin.com/aviation/brochur ... cSheet.pdf

Why don't you post this on the cirrus board, they could help you understand the thing.

Probly because BT is a better forum!