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The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine, four- to five-seat composite aircraft built by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota since 2001, developed from the smaller SR20 with a larger wing, greater fuel capacity and a more powerful engine. It became the first light aircraft with a full glass cockpit and is fitted with a whole-airframe emergency parachute, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), earning it the nickname 'the plane with the parachute'. As the world's best-selling general aviation aircraft every year since 2003, it is of obvious interest to any simulator pilot wanting to fly a modern, technologically advanced high-performance single.
The SR22 is a civil utility aircraft: a single-engine, composite, low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tricycle landing gear, built by Cirrus Aircraft in the United States since 2001 as a more powerful development of the earlier Cirrus SR20. It seats four or five depending on model generation and is accessed through doors on both sides of the fuselage. With 8,246 units delivered from 2001 to 2024 (over 8,785 through 2025) and, combined with the SR20, a total of 10,178 aircraft, it is the most-produced general aviation aircraft of the 21st century and the most-produced aircraft made from composite material, accounting for nearly half of the entire piston aircraft market. It has been the world's best-selling GA airplane every year since 2003.
The SR22 was certified in November 2000 and entered production in 2001 as a more powerful version of the SR20, itself introduced in 1999. In 2003 an SR22, registration N266CD, became the first single-piston-engine aircraft certified by the FAA with a fully integrated glass panel, a machine now preserved in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum 'We All Fly' exhibition, which opened in 2022. Cirrus introduced the SR22 G2 (Generation 2) in 2004, defined by fuselage modifications, followed by the G3 (Generation 3) in 2007, which brought a modified wing and landing gear. A turbocharged SR22 Turbo appeared in 2006, using a Tornado Alley turbonormalizing upgrade kit installed under a Supplemental Type Certificate, with twin turbonormalizers, twin intercoolers, built-in oxygen and a Hartzell three-blade (later optionally four-blade) composite propeller. In 2013 the company introduced the SR22 G5 (there was no G4), raising maximum gross weight to 3,600 lb (1,633 kg) and standardising a five-seat cabin; minor 2014 revisions added integrated LED lighting and Beringer brakes. By 2014 the SR22 and SR22T had been the best-selling four- to five-seat fixed-wing aircraft in the world for twelve consecutive years. Further updates in 2016 added Bluetooth connectivity, remote keyless entry and improved cabin lighting, ahead of the SR22 G6 (Generation 6) in 2017, which brought major avionics upgrades and new navigation lighting. In September 2019 Cirrus launched the TRAC, a training-oriented SR-series variant with a simplified interior, more durable seating, a backseat radio transmit switch for instructors, integrated engine indication and crew alerting systems, and simulated retractable-gear controls for instructional use, even though the landing gear itself remains fixed. A 'Cirrus IQ' mobile app followed in January 2020, giving owners remote access to pre-flight aircraft status. In January 2022 Cirrus announced speed and aesthetic improvements to the G6, including a 9-knot (17 km/h) increase in cruise speed. The SR22 G7 (Generation 7) arrived in January 2024 with a major overhaul of interior and avionics bringing it closer in style to the Cirrus Vision Jet cockpit, along with safety and engine-start improvements and an automatic fuel selection system. The G7+, introduced in May 2025, added the Safe Return emergency autoland system, making the SR22 the first piston aircraft certified with an autoland capability; by December 2025 Cirrus had completed its 11,000th SR-series aircraft since production began.
The SR22 is a composite, low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed (non-retractable) tricycle landing gear, featuring a castering nose wheel steered by differential braking on the main wheels. Power comes from a nose-mounted Continental IO-550-N piston engine of 310 hp (231 kW), with the turbocharged SR22 Turbo/SR22T using a Continental TSIO-550-K engine rated at 315 hp (235 kW), which raises the maximum operating altitude to 25,000 ft. The cabin, entered via doors on each side of the fuselage, is 49 in (124 cm) wide and 50 in (127 cm) high, and the SR-series remains the only production aircraft in its class using side-stick flight controls, referred to as a 'side yoke'. Base weight is quoted at 2,272 lb (1,028 kg) with a useful load of 1,328 lb (606 kg), or 963 lb (439 kg) of cabin payload with three hours of trip fuel plus a 45-minute reserve; the SR22T is quoted with a useful load of 1,238 lb. Wingspan is 38 ft 4 in (11.68 m), length 26 ft (7.92 m) and height 8 ft 11 in (2.7 m). Standard equipment includes the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), a NASA-developed 'cuffed' discontinuous wing leading edge intended to reduce the likelihood of spin entry after an inadvertent stall, integrated stick shakers on the pilot and copilot side yokes, flap airspeed protection, and a digital three-axis autopilot providing Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP) to passively correct unusual attitudes even when the autopilot is not engaged. The avionics fit is the Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin flight deck, with Synthetic Vision Technology, dual WAAS GPS/Comm/Nav radios, a GMA 350c all-digital Bluetooth audio panel, dual ADAHRS, a GFC 700 autopilot, ADS-B In/Out, and the Cirrus IQ connected-aircraft app; a Known Ice Protection package using a TKS-based system with dual windshield sprayers and dual fluid tanks is available, as is a four-blade composite propeller option introduced with later models.
Published figures for the standard SR22 show a takeoff distance of 1,082 ft (330 m), a takeoff distance over a 50 ft obstacle of 1,868 ft (569 m), a climb rate of 1,270 ft/min (6.45 m/sec), a maximum operating altitude of 17,500 ft (5,334 m), a flaps-extended stall speed of 60 KCAS, a maximum cruise speed of 183 KTAS and a landing ground roll of 1,178 ft (359 m). The turbocharged SR22T, with its 315 hp Continental TSIO-550-K engine, is quoted with a maximum cruise speed of 213 KTAS, a maximum operating altitude of 25,000 ft, and a maximum range of 1,021 nm at 55 percent power. Cruise speed has also been quoted at 185 knots with a stall speed of around 60 knots. The turbocharged conversion, while extending altitude capability and adding built-in oxygen, reduces useful load, a penalty further increased if air conditioning is fitted.
The line began with the standard SR22 before the SR22 G2 (Generation 2) of 2004 introduced fuselage modifications, followed by the SR22 G3 (Generation 3) of 2007 with a modified wing and landing gear. The SR22 Turbo, launched in 2006, added a Tornado Alley turbonormalizing kit with twin turbonormalizers, twin intercoolers and built-in oxygen. The SR22 G5 of 2013 (there was no G4) raised gross weight to 3,600 lb and standardised the five-seat cabin, followed by the SR22 G6 (Generation 6) of 2017 with major avionics and lighting upgrades. The TRAC, introduced in 2019, is a training-focused variant with a simplified, durable interior and simulated retractable-gear controls for instructional use, despite retaining fixed gear. The SR22 G7 (Generation 7), announced in January 2024, brought a substantial interior and avionics overhaul, and the G7+ of May 2025 added the Safe Return emergency autoland system as the first such capability on a piston aircraft. The turbocharged version is marketed as the SR22T, using the Continental TSIO-550-K engine in place of the naturally aspirated IO-550-N.
The SR22 has been the world's best-selling general aviation aircraft every year since 2003 and, together with the SR20, is the most-produced GA aircraft of the twenty-first century, representing nearly half of the entire piston aircraft market. It serves predominantly in private and personal aviation, valued for its cabin comfort, glass cockpit and CAPS parachute safety system, while the dedicated TRAC variant extends the type into flight training and cadet instruction. A 2003-built SR22, the first single-piston aircraft certified with a glass panel, is preserved and displayed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's 'Thomas W. Haas We All Fly' general aviation exhibition, which opened in 2022, reflecting the type's significance in the history of light aircraft technology.
For a simulator pilot, the SR22 offers a distinctive handling package built around its side-stick 'side yoke' controls, a layout unique among production aircraft in its class and one that changes the feel of roll and pitch inputs compared with a conventional yoke. The airframe's cuffed wing leading edge and integrated stick shakers are designed to give clear tactile warning ahead of a stall, while the Electronic Stability and Protection system works quietly in the background to nudge the aircraft back from unusual attitudes even with the autopilot off, characteristics that shape how the type responds to mishandling. Fixed tricycle gear with a castering nose wheel steered by differential braking simplifies ground handling relative to types with nosewheel steering linkages. The presence of the CAPS whole-airframe parachute as standard equipment is central to the type's identity and is often the first thing pilots new to the SR22 want to understand, even though its activation lies outside normal flight envelope handling. With cruise speeds around 183 to 213 KTAS depending on model and a well-equipped Garmin-based glass cockpit including synthetic vision and a coupled autopilot, the SR22 rewards pilots who want a capable, modern cross-country single with sophisticated avionics and safety systems to manage.
