One surefire way for airplane makers to get a lot more performance out of their existing designs is by adding a turbocharger. It’s hardly a new approach. It’s been popular since the 1960s. And just in the past few years Columbia, Mooney and Cessna have all introduced turbocharged models, all based on good-selling existing airplanes. So it was no surprise when Cirrus, which had in fact been openly talking about the possibility for a while, pulled the trigger on its very own turbo project, launching the SR22 Turbo Charged at AirVenture last summer.
Fans of Cirrus’ iconoclastic reputation will be happy to learn that the company somehow managed to change the way such programs are done. While Cirrus took a highly unusual (maybe unprecedented) approach, like every other controversial path they’ve tread-think parachute; think flat panels; think The Jet by Cirrus-there were good arguments in this case too for why it made sense to go outside the box to get things done.
