Cirrus SR22: Specs, Performance And POH Guide

The Cirrus SR22 is a four- or five-seat, single-engine, low-wing composite airplane with fixed gear, a 310-horsepower Continental IO-550-N engine, a whole-airframe parachute and, in current models, a Garmin glass cockpit. It has been the best-selling piston airplane in the world for most of the years since 2003. This page is a reference: what the SR22 is, how the generations from G1 to G7 differ, the airframe and engine, the dimensions and weights, the V-speeds, what its Pilot's Operating Handbook contains and where to get the official one, what the airplane is like to fly, and how to fly one at Van Nuys Airport. It is part of our fleet library under the airplanes you fly, alongside the Cirrus SR20, the Piper Warrior and the Diamond DA20.

Every figure on this page is approximate and drawn from published Cirrus data for typical models. The SR22 has changed in weight, fuel capacity, avionics and limitations many times over its production run, and the only numbers that apply to a given airplane are the ones in the POH for its serial number. Verify against that before you fly.

What The Cirrus SR22 Is

Cirrus Design, founded by the brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier in Wisconsin and later based in Duluth, Minnesota, certified the SR20 in 1998 and followed it with the larger-engined SR22, certified in late 2000 with first deliveries in 2001. The two share a fuselage, wing planform and philosophy; the SR22 has a bigger engine, a bigger wing, more fuel and more weight. The philosophy is what made the airplane. Cirrus set out to build a piston single that was as fast and comfortable as the competition, easier to fly, and safer, and it addressed the safety half with three things no other production light airplane had together: a parachute for the whole airframe, a wing with a stall-resistant leading-edge cuff, and a cockpit designed around big screens and simple systems. The result sold. Cirrus delivered its ten-thousandth SR-series airplane in the early 2020s, and the SR22 and its turbocharged sibling the SR22T account for most of them.

Pilots search for this airplane under several names: SR22, SR-22, SR22T, SR22 Turbo, SR22 G6 and so on, "Cirrus 22", and by the generation designations Cirrus uses. They all refer to the same family. The SR22T is the factory turbocharged version introduced in 2010; the earlier "SR22 Turbo" was a turbonormalized conversion offered by Cirrus with Tornado Alley Turbo from 2006. All have CAPS.

Model History: Generations G1 To G7

Cirrus does not change the model designation when it revises the airplane; it changes the generation number. The airplane is always an SR22, but a 2002 SR22 and a 2024 SR22 are very different machines, and the generation is the first thing to establish when you read a specification or a POH. Note that Cirrus skipped "G4"; the numbering runs G1, G2, G3, G5, G6, G7.

G1, 2001 To 2003

The original SR22: a 310-horsepower Continental IO-550-N, an 81-gallon fuel system, a maximum takeoff weight of 3,400 pounds, and initially a conventional flight-instrument panel with a large multifunction display. The Avidyne Entegra primary flight display arrived in 2003, making the SR22 one of the first production piston airplanes with a glass primary display. The G1 had a single alternator-and-battery arrangement in early serials and the simpler cabin of the first design. It is the least expensive SR22 on the used market, and a well-maintained one with the parachute repack and rocket replacement done is a lot of airplane for the money.

G2, 2004 To 2007

The second generation redesigned the fuselage structure around the cabin, with a stronger, lighter carry-through and improved door latches, added a six-point engine mount that reduced vibration, and standardized the Avidyne Entegra glass cockpit. Maximum takeoff weight stayed at 3,400 pounds. The turbonormalized SR22 Turbo (the "SR22 TN") became a factory option from 2006. G2 airplanes are the sweet spot of the early fleet: the structural improvements of the later airplanes at pre-Perspective prices.

G3, 2007 To 2012

The G3 was a new wing. A lighter carbon-fiber spar allowed fuel capacity to rise from 81 to 92 gallons, the landing gear was made taller for better propeller clearance and a more stable stance, and the wing incorporated the new fuel-tank arrangement. In 2008 Cirrus introduced Perspective by Garmin, its version of the Garmin G1000, which replaced Avidyne on new airplanes and brought the integrated GFC 700 autopilot with the envelope-protection and level-button features Cirrus is known for. The factory-turbocharged SR22T, with the Continental TSIO-550-K, appeared in 2010. A G3 with Perspective is the oldest SR22 that flies and feels like a current one.

G5, 2013 To 2016

The G5 raised maximum takeoff weight from 3,400 to 3,600 pounds, adding about 200 pounds of useful load, and became a five-seat airplane with a split rear bench. Doing that required a larger CAPS parachute and rocket, stronger landing gear, and revised flaps and flap speeds. The higher weight is why V-speeds differ between pre-G5 and G5-and-later airplanes; a stall speed quoted for a 3,400-pound SR22 is not the stall speed of a 3,600-pound one. The G5 also introduced a 60/40 rear seat and cosmetic and interior changes.

G6, 2017 To 2023

The G6 brought Perspective+, based on the Garmin G1000 NXi with faster processors, a keyboard controller, wireless database updates and a QWERTY keypad, along with wingtip "Spectra" lighting and various systems refinements. The airframe and engine were unchanged from the G5. Most SR22s on flight lines today are G5 or G6, and the airplane You Fly LA flies at Van Nuys is a turbocharged SR22 of this general type.

G7, 2024 Onward

The G7 was the largest cockpit change since Perspective. It introduced Perspective Touch+, derived from the Garmin G3000 with touchscreen controllers, a redesigned interior and instrument panel, push-button engine start, and updated lighting and systems. The engines and airframe remained the IO-550-N and TSIO-550-K in the same 3,600-pound airframe.

How To Tell Them Apart

Look at the panel first. Round primary gauges with a large center screen are early G1; two Avidyne screens with a row of Garmin GNS navigators between them are late G1 or G2; two Garmin screens with a keypad below are Perspective, so G3 or later; a keyboard controller and the NXi look are G6; touchscreens are G7. Then look at the fuel capacity in the POH, 81 or 92 gallons, which separates G2 from G3, and at the maximum takeoff weight, 3,400 or 3,600 pounds, which separates G3 from G5. The five-seat rear bench and the taller gear are visible from outside.

Airframe And Engine

The SR22 is built almost entirely of composite materials, fiberglass and carbon fiber over foam cores, molded in large sections and bonded. The airframe is smooth, aerodynamically clean and free of the rivets and lap joints of a metal airplane, which is part of why it is fast on 310 horsepower. The cabin is wide, about 49 inches across at the shoulders, with two large doors that open upward and forward and a rear bench that seats two or, from the G5, three. Flight controls are conventional in function but unusual in form: a side-yoke on each side of the cockpit that moves like a yoke rather than a stick, pushrods and cables to the ailerons and elevator, and a spring-cartridge trim system rather than trim tabs. Flaps are electric with three positions, up, 50 percent and 100 percent.

The wing carries a leading-edge cuff over the outboard section, a discontinuity that lets the inboard wing stall first while the outboard wing and ailerons keep flying. It is the reason the SR22 stalls gently straight ahead rather than dropping a wing, and it is a certification feature, not a decoration. The landing gear is fixed tricycle gear with wheel fairings, and the nosewheel casters freely; steering on the ground is by differential braking and rudder, which is the first thing a new Cirrus pilot has to learn.

The normally aspirated SR22 is powered by a Continental IO-550-N, a six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, fuel-injected engine of 550 cubic inches producing 310 horsepower at 2,700 rpm, turning a three-blade Hartzell constant-speed propeller. The SR22T uses the Continental TSIO-550-K, the twin-turbocharged, intercooled version rated at 315 horsepower at 2,500 rpm, which holds full power to high altitude and gives the T its 200-plus-knot cruise in the flight levels. Both are managed by a single power lever: Cirrus links throttle and propeller control so the pilot sets power with one lever and manages mixture with the other. Fuel is carried in two wing tanks with a left-right-off selector; 92 gallons usable from the G3 onward.

CAPS, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, is housed behind the rear seats. A solid-fuel rocket extracts the parachute through a frangible cover on the top of the fuselage; three Kevlar straps embedded in the fuselage structure carry the load, and the airplane descends nose-slightly-down at roughly 1,700 feet per minute. The landing gear and seats are designed to absorb the touchdown. The parachute must be repacked and the rocket replaced on a calendar schedule, which is a real cost that any buyer of a used SR22 should check.

Dimensions, Weights And Capacities

Typical figures for a G5/G6 SR22. All approximate; verify against the POH for the serial number.

Useful load is where the SR22 earns its reputation as a traveling airplane. With full 92-gallon tanks, roughly 550 pounds of fuel, a G5 or G6 SR22 still carries around 700 to 800 pounds of people and bags, which is three adults and luggage for five hours. Pre-G5 airplanes with the 3,400-pound limit are about 200 pounds tighter. On a discovery flight at You Fly LA the limits for the Cirrus are 200 pounds per person and 400 pounds combined, which come from the way the airplane is loaded for that mission rather than from the airplane's own maximum.

Typical V-Speeds And Performance

The speeds below are typical for a normally aspirated SR22 at the 3,600-pound maximum takeoff weight. Speeds change with weight and with generation; earlier 3,400-pound airplanes have lower stall and maneuvering speeds. Use the POH.

Two of those numbers shape how the airplane is flown. Vpd, the maximum demonstrated speed for parachute deployment, is why Cirrus training teaches slowing the airplane before a pull whenever there is time to. And the gap between Vno at about 177 knots and cruise speed of about 180 knots true means that a normally aspirated SR22 in descent gets to the yellow arc quickly; descent planning and power management are part of flying the airplane well.

What The POH Contains

The Cirrus SR22 Pilot's Operating Handbook is also the FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual, and it is organized in the standard GAMA format that most modern light airplanes share, with a Cirrus-specific addition for abnormal procedures. It is a large document, several hundred pages, and it is revised often. These are its sections.

Section 1: General

A description of the airplane, its dimensions, engine and propeller, fuel and oil specifications, weights, and the definitions and abbreviations used through the handbook. This is where the three-view drawing lives and where you confirm which generation and configuration the book covers.

Section 2: Limitations

The legally binding limits: airspeed limitations and the color-coded airspeed indicator markings, powerplant limits, weight and center-of-gravity limits, the kinds of operation the airplane is approved for, fuel limitations, and the CAPS limitations including Vpd. The placards required in the cockpit are reproduced here. Everything in this section is a rule, not a recommendation.

Section 3: Emergency Procedures

Engine failure at every phase, fires, CAPS deployment, emergency descent, ditching, and loss of control, each as a memory-item checklist followed by an amplified explanation. Cirrus places CAPS deployment guidance prominently here, with the deployment envelope and the decision framework.

Section 3A: Abnormal Procedures

A Cirrus addition to the standard format: situations that are not emergencies but are not normal, such as alternator failure, avionics failures, flap failures, door open in flight, and the many caution and warning messages the Perspective system can display. This section grows with each generation as the avionics gain capability.

Section 4: Normal Procedures

Preflight inspection, engine start, taxi, run-up, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, landing and shutdown, as checklists and as expanded text. The recommended airspeeds for each phase, the leaning procedure, and the CAPS pre-takeoff briefing are here.

Section 5: Performance

Airspeed calibration, stall speeds by weight and bank angle, takeoff and landing distance charts by weight, altitude, temperature and wind, climb performance, cruise performance tables by altitude and power setting, range and endurance, and, on turbocharged airplanes, the high-altitude cruise tables. Every number on the table above is a simplification of a chart in this section.

Section 6: Weight And Balance

The airplane's actual empty weight and center of gravity as weighed, the equipment list, the loading arms, and the procedure for computing a loading. Nothing in this section can be looked up from a general reference; it is specific to the serial number, and the weight-and-balance record must be current.

Section 7: Airplane And Systems Descriptions

The longest section: airframe, flight controls, the trim system, instrument panel and Perspective avionics, landing gear, seats and doors, engine and propeller, fuel, electrical with its dual alternators and batteries, lighting, environmental, pitot-static, stall warning, CAPS, and any ice protection. Read this before the first flight and again after it.

Section 8: Handling, Servicing And Maintenance

Ground handling, towing and tie-down, fuel and oil servicing, cleaning, the inspection intervals, and the CAPS repack and rocket replacement intervals. Owners live in this section; renters and students should at least know it exists.

Section 9: Supplements

FAA-approved supplements for optional equipment and modifications: ice protection, particular avionics configurations, oxygen, and other installed options. A supplement can change limitations and procedures, so a POH without its supplements is incomplete.

Section 10: Safety Information

Cirrus-specific guidance on operating the airplane safely, including expanded CAPS discussion, weather and icing, and the accident lessons the company has folded into its training. This section is unique to Cirrus among most light-airplane handbooks and is worth reading in full.

How To Read A Performance Chart

The takeoff and landing charts in Section 5 are the most-used pages in the book, and the method is the same for all of them. Establish the conditions first: pressure altitude, from the altimeter set to 29.92, and outside air temperature, and from them the density altitude. Find the table or graph for the airplane's weight; interpolate between weights if yours falls between columns. Read the distance for your altitude and temperature. Then apply the corrections in the notes: headwind and tailwind components, runway surface, and runway slope where the chart gives them. The result is the distance for a new airplane flown by a test pilot exactly as the book describes, and a working pilot adds a margin, commonly 50 percent, to that number.

Van Nuys sits at about 800 feet elevation, and a summer afternoon here at 95 degrees Fahrenheit gives a density altitude around 3,500 feet. The SR22 hardly notices on Van Nuys's 8,000-foot main runway. It does notice at a short, hot, high strip in the Sierra, and that is what the charts are for.

Why POH Figures Are Aircraft-Specific

Two SR22s of the same generation can have different limitations, because one has a supplement installed and the other does not, or because a service bulletin or airworthiness directive has changed a procedure. Two airplanes of different generations differ in maximum weight, fuel capacity, flap speeds and V-speeds, as described above. And every airplane has its own empty weight and center of gravity that change with every equipment installation. This is why any figure on this page or any other website is a guide and not an authority. The POH revision in the airplane, with its supplements and its current weight-and-balance record, is the only document that describes the airplane you are about to fly.

Where To Get The Official Manual

• Cirrus Aircraft's website. Cirrus publishes its Pilot's Operating Handbooks and Airplane Flight Manuals, by model and serial-number range, along with the Flight Operations Manual and training materials, in the technical publications and pilot resources areas of cirrusaircraft.com. This is the authoritative source and the copies are free to read.
• The airplane. Every certificated SR22 must carry its current POH/AFM aboard. If you rent or train in one, ask to see it and read Sections 2, 3 and 4 before your first flight.
• Cirrus training resources. Cirrus's own transition and recurrent training courses include the manuals, checklists and Section 10 material as part of the syllabus.
• Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association. COPA maintains a large library of type-specific safety and operating material for members.

Be wary of scanned handbooks from unknown sources. Cirrus revises the POH frequently, and an old revision may carry limitations that have since changed.

What It Is Like To Fly

The first thing you notice is the ground handling. The nosewheel casters, so the airplane is steered with brakes and rudder, and until the habit forms the taxi is a little wandering. The second thing is the side-yoke: it falls naturally to hand, it moves like a yoke rather than a stick, and after a few minutes you stop thinking about it. The doors are big, the cabin is bright, and the panel is two large screens and a keypad, with almost no round instruments at all.

On takeoff the IO-550 pushes hard. With the single power lever forward, the airplane accelerates briskly, rotates at about 70 knots and climbs at well over a thousand feet a minute at 101 knots, and the first-time Cirrus pilot's instinct is to over-rotate into a nose-high attitude that the airplane does not need. Once trimmed for climb it is stable and hands-off. Trim is the key to the SR22; the spring-cartridge system means an untrimmed airplane fights you, and a trimmed one flies itself.

In cruise it is fast, quiet for a piston single, and stable. The controls are lighter in roll than in pitch, and the airplane goes where it is pointed with very little effort. A normally aspirated SR22 at 8,000 feet trues out around 180 knots on about 17 gallons an hour; the T at 17,000 feet with oxygen or higher is faster still. Steep turns need a touch of back pressure and a little power and then settle; slow flight is docile; stalls with the cuffed wing are a straight-ahead nod with the stall horn well before the break, and recovery is instant. The autopilot, once you know its modes, takes the workload out of long legs and instrument approaches, and the level button returns the airplane to wings-level flight from any unusual attitude at the push of a thumb.

Landing is where the SR22 asks for discipline. It is clean, it does not want to slow down, and a pilot who arrives on final at 95 knots will float the length of a short runway. Flown at 80 to 85 knots with full flaps and power managed, it settles onto the mains with a small flare and a slightly nose-high attitude, and it is easy. Flown fast and flat, it porpoises. The difference is speed control on final, and that is most of what a Cirrus transition course spends its landing time on.

Above all of it is CAPS. Knowing that a parachute exists changes how a pilot thinks about an engine failure over the Santa Monica Mountains at night or a loss of control in cloud, and Cirrus training turns that knowledge into a pre-flight decision rather than a mid-emergency debate. It is the one feature of the airplane that has no counterpart in anything else on the ramp, and it is a large part of why families buy the SR22.

Fly An SR22 At Van Nuys

You Fly LA flies a turbocharged Cirrus SR22 from Van Nuys Airport, and there are two ways into the left seat. The first is the Luxury Cirrus discovery flight for two, from $399 for sixty minutes with 90- and 120-minute options: you fly, with an instructor beside you, over downtown Los Angeles, the coast and Malibu, in air conditioning and leather, under the parachute. The hour is logged. The second is training. Our Cirrus flight training page covers transition courses for licensed pilots, the high-performance endorsement, and the Turbo Cirrus private pilot package that flies the whole certificate in the SR22. Once checked out, the airplane is available through aircraft rental at Van Nuys.

If the SR22 is more airplane than you need for now, the Cirrus SR20 is the same design with a gentler engine, and the Piper Warrior is where most of our students start. Whichever it is, the first hour is the one that tells you whether the rest of it is for you. Book the Cirrus discovery flight, or book a free consultation to plan Cirrus training, and call (818) 330-1318 any day from 9 AM to 9 PM with questions.