A Cirrus-ly Fun Airplane to Fly

Let’s be honest. There are two very different sides to general aviation.

The hardcore purists proudly flying their 75-year-old classics, and the modern, tech-savvy enthusiasts who geek out on the latest and greatest. If you fall into the first category, this article probably sends you running for the hills. But as someone who most definitely falls into more of the old-school category, I urge you to stay. 

For a bit of background, I learned to fly in a 1946 Aeronca Champ off a 2,700-foot grass strip. As you can imagine, this type of grassroots, old-school flying is about as far removed from Cirrus flying as one can get. 

After a decade of hearing (and dishing out) the Cirrus jokes, giving the side-eye to pilots that thought they were the next Tom Cruise after stepping out of one, and laughing at more parachute memes than I care to admit, I have always planned on staying far away from these birds and the reputation that proceeds them. 

• READ MORE: We Fly: Cirrus SR G7+

But with more and more Cirrus owners and pilots proudly showing off their rides (despite the backlash), curiosity slowly began to get the best of me. That’s where Texas Top Aviation comes into play. Thanks to a lead from my friend Mike Sasser, I decided it was finally time to try a Cirrus on for size. 

Texas Top Aviation (TTA), founded and owned by Hank Gibson, is an owner-focused flight training service located just outside of San Antonio to the south and Austin to the north in New Braunfels, Texas. 

“Texas Top Aviation trains airplane owners who are new to their airplanes, and we get them up to speed,” said Gibson. “We also help buy and sell airplanes as well as aircraft management. We are a one-stop airplane owner shop.” 

Gibson and his wife started TTA over a decade ago focusing on Columbia and Cirrus pilot training. 

“We prayed a whole lot, and we were able to buy groceries the first year, put a little bit in savings, and we had our son that same year,” Gibson said.

• READ MORE: Installing Starlink in a Cirrus Aircraft: A Comprehensive Guide

Gibson, who quickly realized he didn’t want to become an airline pilot during college, cut his teeth as a CFI before going down the path of aviation entrepreneurship. 

“I got burnt out on flight training, so my wife and I decided we needed to have a reset,” he said. “We took an adventure to Washington [state] and worked on an organic blueberry farm for four months and lived in an Airstream [travel trailer]. When we got there, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do or if I even wanted to keep flying.” 

But it didn’t take long for Gibson’s wife, his self-proclaimed “Chief Idea Officer,” to start brainstorming. 

“Sometimes it takes me a second to come on board, but then I’m the one that puts them into action,” said Gibson. “We got pregnant while we were on the blueberry farm, so it was time to get a plan. We wrote some numbers down and decided to just work for ourselves essentially. Let’s take the company out and do this for ourselves. We started Texas Top on January 1, 2014.” 

Over the past decade, TTA has grown into a household aviation name in Texas and beyond. 

“We’re around 20-30 percent Cirrus training, about 40-50 percent in the PA46, then 10-15 percent in the TBMs, then 5 percent is probably Bonanzas and Columbias,” he said. “Our local area is definitely here in the San Antonio and Austin area, but we will go all over the country to train our customers.” 

For owners and pilots interested in a Cirrus checkout course with TTA, it all starts with ground school then transitions into the airplane itself, which is more often than not covered by Cirrus Aircraft. 

“Cirrus has a program they started back in 2017 or 2018, and they decided to cover the first three days of training for anyone buying a Cirrus,” said Gibson. “Not only does Cirrus cover training for new airplanes but also for airplanes going all the way back to 1999. It’s called the Embark program. They have nonturbo-specific courses and then turbo-specific courses along with the corresponding avionics packages.” 

After watching and digesting around 20 hours of Cirrus’ video content, Gibson brings the students into his domain for real-world application. 

“When you show up to train, I am expecting you to have gone through the videos,” he said. “The way I usually start is, knowing that you’ve gone through those 20 hours of videos, talk a little bit about each system, see what you remember, see what questions you have, and then we can dig deeper into the POH and old slides that talk about the systems. The ground portion in person only lasts about a morning. Then it’s about two days of flying VFR and about four and a half days for the IFR. Sometimes people get done quicker. Sometimes they take longer, but Cirrus pays for the first three days.” 

Since I wasn’t a traditional student going through the entire training, I went into Gibson’s program completely cold turkey, not knowing a single thing about the airplane we would soon be flying—a 2019 Cirrus SR20 G6. It’s equipped with an IO-390 Lycoming engine and Garmin Perspective Plus avionics. 

“It’ll do 150-155 knots on about 11 or 12 gallons an hour at about seven or 8,000 feet,” he said. “Most of them have between 900 and 1,000 pounds [of] useful load, and they hold 56 gallons [of fuel], so you can load them up pretty good.” 

Although I was still slightly apprehensive about the fact that I was about to lose my never-flown-a-Cirrus card, I was excited at the thought of getting to know this airplane as I watched the metallic blue paint sparkle in the Texas sun. 

The aircraft, which is owned by AeroPro Flight Academy, is used as a trainer for Texas Top Aviation. Although Gibson believes that it serves as an ideal training ground, he warned me up front about the challenges of the SR20. 

“The landings are always the hardest part for people to grasp,” he said. “It is a very different sight picture than a 172, Cherokee, or Archer. The controls are tight, the side stick takes getting used to, and if you don’t have a lot of Garmin time, the button pushing can be a major pain point.” 

Time to Fly

After some basic ground school and introduction to Cirrus’ training content, it was time to stop talking about the airplane and climb inside. 

As we walked to the aircraft, I noticed Gibson pull out a key fob that looked all too similar to that of one for a car. 

“Watch this,” Gibson said as he hit the unlock button that proceeded to unlock the doors. Although I was quite impressed, the purist in me couldn’t help but wonder what I was getting into. 

Climbing onto the wing of the airplane is no different than climbing into any other low-wing nosedragger. But the exotic-car-type, gull-wing doors are far removed from that of your typical Piper Cherokee. 

As I lowered myself down into the seat, I couldn’t help but notice that everything about the Cirrus reminded me of a car. From the leather detailing, to center console, air conditioning, and everything in between, it felt like I was meeting an old friend. 

At that moment I tipped my invisible hat to Cirrus’ design and engineering team, with their very intentional and clever ways of bringing a feeling of automotive familiarity to the flight deck. 

“Well, are you ready?” Gibson asked. “I was born ready,” I replied. 

Grabbing the checklist, I began to go down it line by line, and within no time, I had the Lycoming purring to life. 

“Ready for some air conditioning?” Gibson asked. “Of course,” I replied as we both sat in the cockpit absolutely dripping with sweat in the springtime Texas heat. 

As we made our way to the runway, I couldn’t help but notice the ergonomic feel of the aircraft. From the hand positioning to the seating position, and even the way my fingers laid across the throttle, everything felt far better than I would have imagined. Maybe this airplane was worth the hype after all. 

“Austin Tower, Cirrus 312WC holding at 18 left, ready for departure,” I announced over frequency. After being cleared for departure, I lined up on Runway 18.

“Take about three to four seconds going from idle to full power, [and] make sure all your gauges are in the green and rotate in between 71-75,” Gibson said. 

“All right, let’s go,” I replied. 

With the power full forward, and ensuring everything was in the green, I rotated at 68, thanks to my innate desire to feel the aircraft rather stare at an airspeed indicator on takeoff. 

“Wow, that was so easy,” I said aloud to Gibson. 

“Yep, you were just a little slow though, so we needed just a touch more airspeed to not feel that slight sink back down, but nice job,” said Gibson. 

Noticing a surge type feeling on takeoff, I asked Gibson if that was indeed the propeller surging. 

“That’s normal, but it’s not actually surging,” he said. “It makes a noise when you hit 2,500 rpm and goes in that knuckle and then continues forward at another manifold pressure dependent upon airport elevation. It will come out of that knuckle and continue up to 2,700 rpm, and that’s the second surge you hear. But you’re still moving the prop governor and it is still maintaining the rpm.” Makes sense, I thought. After all, this was my first time flying a constant-speed airplane with no propeller lever. “All right, we just hit 85 so I can pull the flaps up, right?” I asked Gibson after recalling my ground school lessons. With a simple twist of the flap switch, I retracted the flaps and headed out toward the practice area and our airport of choice for landing practice, Smithville-Crawford Municipal (84R). 

As we headed up to our desired cruising altitude of 7,500 feet, I began to notice a slight bit of tension in my left hand and wrist as I worked to get used to the side stick. 

“There’s a whole process to getting used to that movement,” Gibson said. “It’s more of an arm movement than a wrist movement, but you’ll get used to it.” 

After leveling off at 7,500 feet, I brought the power back to 2,500 rpm, turned the boost pump off, and leaned the aircraft out. 

“Just pull the mixture back to the blue line,” said Gibson. “It’s as easy as that.” 

“Wow, this is idiot proof,” I said. “There is no guesswork in any of this.” 

With the autopilot now turned on, I thought about how bored I was getting. That is a feeling I rarely often have flying an airplane. 

“The big windows work great for mounting a Starlink,” Gibson said. “Boredom solved when you can answer emails and fly to wherever you need to go.” 

With our true airspeed reading 140 knots and burning 10 gph, I was beginning to really see the hype.

After a few uneventful maneuvers including slow flight, steep turns, and stalls, I was feeling quite comfortable in the SR20. 

“One you level off, pull it back to 50 percent power, then abeam the numbers pull it back to 25 percent,” said Gibson. Once I slowed down to below 150, I added a notch of flaps and pushed down to counteract the balloon once again.

On base to final, Gibson instructed me to shoot for 100 and put in full flaps. Without even realizing it, I had added a touch of power. 

“Just trust me. Bring it back to 25 percent power,” said Gibson as I lined up with the runway. “Smithville Traffic, 312WC final, full stop Smithville,” Gibson announced. 

“So now we want to slow to 78-80 plus half the gust factor, so shoot for about 83,” said Gibson. “As you cross the threshold, put in three clicks of nose-up trim, and then as we cross the numbers, you’re going to start to bleed the power back, look at the end of the runway, and right before you think the prop is about to hit the ground, that’s where you want to level off. Bring it to idle at that point. Hold it, wait for it to settle, and then flare. And you’ve got a right crosswind, so keep that in mind.” 

Admiring Gibson’s ability to so perfectly describe the step-by-step process of a successful landing, I worked my way down to the runway. For an airplane I certainly didn’t think I was going to be able to “wear,” I was feeling one with it at that exact moment.

Following Gibson’s exact instructions, I touched down just beyond the 1,000-foot markers. “Nice. You sure you haven’t flown a Cirrus before?” Gibson asked. “Positive,” I replied. 

Although I don’t have an exact need for a couple-hundred-thousand-dollar traveler (on the cheap, used end), I can absolutely see the appeal of a Cirrus for smooth cross-country flights, effortless business trips, and acting like a little sports car of the sky.

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Editor’s note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.