Cirrus Surprise: Garmin EFIS Option

Although EBACE isn't the usual venue for major light aircraft announcements, Cirrus rolled one out here in Geneva nonetheless in the form of a new model called the Cirrus Perspective, which sports some airframe upgrades but-the real stunner-a new, upgraded version of Garmin's popular G1000 EFIS system. We went to Duluth last week for an advance look at the Perspective. (Watch the video below.)

It's more accurate to call the Perspective an options package rather than a new model, since Cirrus will continue to sell the mainstay Avidyne Entegra-equipped SR20s and SR22s.The Perspective is an SR22-only upgrade-at about a $48,000 premium-that has what might best be described as a gen-and-half Garmin G1000. The new EFIS has been, in the words of Alan Klapmeier, "Cirrusized" with 12-inch rather than 10-inch screens and is thus the ideal platform for Garmin's recently announced SVT synthetic vision upgrade, which the Perspective has. Terrain depiction is detailed almost down to rubber skids on runways and the new display also has highway-in-the-sky (HITs) boxes and an airdata-driven flight path indicator. To simplify operation of the EFIS, the Perspective has an alphanumeric keyboard which resides on the pedestal between the pilot seats, where a pair of GNS430s are found in the conventional Avidyne-equipped airplane. Besides the keys, some of G1000's knobs and joystick have also been relocated to center section control. Cirrus has also directed Garmin to simplify the GFC700 autopilot control panel and it has one neat new feature: a dedicated blue button labeled LVL. By pushing that, the pilot commands the autopilot to level the wings and nose on the current heading and altitude. Although it's not billed as a recovery-from-unusual attitudes button, our sneak preview of the system at Duluth last week suggests it has that potential. Other Perspective upgrades include a yaw damper, brake temperature systems and spiffy new paint schemes.