Expert Opinion
AIN Blog: The Cirrus Training Philosophy
Learning to fly the Cirrus SR20 was an education in modern training technology.
For AIN senior editor Matt Thurber, learning to fly a Cirrus was a refreshing training experience. (Photo: Didier Ushijima)
For AIN senior editor Matt Thurber, learning to fly a Cirrus was a refreshing training experience. (Photo: Didier Ushijima)

I finally decided to get checked out in a modern airplane, a 2015 Cirrus SR20 equipped with the Garmin Perspective avionics suite. This is as modern as light general aviation airplanes get these days, with Garmin’s synthetic vision, GFC 700 autopilot and FMS control panel, Max-Viz enhanced vision and, of course, the famous and still-controversial Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). 

The checkout was with CalAir, a Cirrus-only flight training, airplane rental and management company based at Hawthorne Airport just south of the busy final approach corridor to Los Angeles International Airport. CalAir’s fleet is well maintained and in excellent condition, and the operation and its instructors are serious about safety and proper standard operating procedures, something that is sadly missing in much general aviation flying. I also have to credit CalAir owner Jonathan Lucas for a quick response to my website query about transition training. His was the second local Cirrus training company I contacted via their websites; the first company never responded to me.

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Matt Thurber
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