Cirrus’ Turbo For The Flight Levels

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Although the Cirrus SR22 is no slouch in the cruise speed arena, it still trails Columbia’s 400 by 40 knots or so, especially when the Columbia hits the high teens. The Cirrus answer to this appeared at OSH in the form the new SR22-GTS Turbo, which promises to deliver 200-knot cruise speed in the low flight levels. Cirrus expects the turbo SR22 to be available sometime this fall, for an add on price of $59,800, bringing the total price for a typically equipped new SR22 to $509,795 — a price that includes a new lighter Hartzell composite prop. But that’s not the only new twist. What’s interesting about this project is that the engineering was done by an outside vendor, not Teledyne Continental, which supplies the airplane’s IO-550-N engine. Tornado Alley Turbo — well known for its Bonanza and Cessna aftermarket turbos — was already developing a turbonormalizer setup for the SR22 so Cirrus decided to offer that to its customers rather than a factory TC option. This isn’t the first time an OEM has retained an outside vendor for a turbo setup, but it’s certainly one of the most high profile.

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