When you look back at the historical arc of light general aviation, a few airplanes stand out as being so important that their introductions changed the way we flew and the way we looked at flying. At the certain risk of leaving out a few favorites, you can’t talk about the history of light aviation without bringing up the Piper Cub, the Beech Bonanza and Baron, the Cessna 172, 182, 210 and 206, the Piper Cherokee and Malibu and … well, I’ll let you fill in the rest yourselves. Suffice it to say, however, there aren’t many more.
My only point is that, when compiling such a list, it’s impossible to leave off the Cirrus SR22. I would argue that it is an airplane that, like the Bonanza and Skyhawk before it, changed the face of the light GA marketplace more than any other airplane of its time, both in the way we look at what an airplane should be and in the way in which manufacturers built and marketed their products. With its feature-rich, high-performance four-place single, Cirrus put the pressure on its competitors to offer models that were roomy, fast and technologically advanced and that featured a wide variety of standard and optional safety utilities. That’s quite an impression to have made in a relatively short time.
