It included twin turbonormalizers and twin intercoolers. Turbocharged models Ĭirrus introduced the SR22 Turbo in 2006, with a Tornado Alley turbonormalizing upgrade kit that is factory installed under a Supplemental Type Certificate. In January 2024, the company announced the SR22 G7 (Generation 7), with a major overhaul to the interior and avionics, making it more comparable to the cockpit of a Cirrus Vision Jet, as well as safety and engine-start improvements and an automatic fuel selection system. In January 2022, Cirrus announced speed and aesthetic improvements to the G6 SR-series, with a 9 knots (17 km/h) increased cruise speed, upgrades to the mobile IQ app, USB-A and USB-C charging ports and more. In October 2020, it was revealed that a 2003 SR22 would be displayed in the new general aviation exhibition "We All Fly" in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, which opened in 2022. In January 2020, the company introduced a new mobile app for the SR Series, called "Cirrus IQ", which enables remote aircraft communication including access to pre-flight status information like fuel and oxygen levels, battery voltage, oil temperature, aircraft location and flight hours. In September 2019, Cirrus unveiled the TRAC, a training-oriented version of the SR-series with a simplified interior, more durable seat material, backseat radio transmit switch to allow an observer to communicate with air traffic control, integrated engine indication and crew alerting/warning systems, and simulated retractable landing gear controls and position lights to allow cadets and instructors to feign landing gear operation and failures during instructional flights (the actual landing gear remains permanently fixed). In 2017, the company introduced the SR22 G6 (Generation 6), with several major upgrades to the avionics and new navigation lighting. In 2016, Cirrus introduced improvements to the SR Series, including Bluetooth wireless connectivity, remote keyless entry, a convenience lighting system, and an easy-access door latch. In 2014, the SR22 and SR22T had been the best-selling four- to five-seat fixed-wing aircraft in the world for 12 years in a row. The G5 received only minor changes for 2014, including integrated LED lighting and Beringer brakes. Key changes were an increase in gross weight to 3,600 lb (1,633 kg) and a standard five-seat cabin arrangement. In 2013, the manufacturer introduced the SR22 G5 (Generation 5) (there was no G4). In a 2012 Flying magazine review, then editor-in-chief Robert Goyer wrote that the Cirrus SR22 "is the most sophisticated single-engine civilian airplane ever built and by a long shot." Both were defined by airframe modifications, G2 by fuselage and G3 by modified wing and landing gear. In 2004, the company introduced the SR22 G2 (Generation 2) and in 2007 the SR22 G3 (Generation 3). The Cirrus SR22, like the SR20, is equipped with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), which can lower the entire aircraft to the ground relatively gently in an emergency.
The SR-series remains the only production airplane in its class to include side stick flight controls that combine aspects of a traditional yoke handle (referred to in the industry as a "side yoke"). The four-seat cabin is accessed through doors on both sides of the fuselage. It is powered by a nose-mounted 310 hp (231 kW) Continental IO-550-N piston engine. The SR22 is a low-wing cantilever monoplane of composite construction, featuring fixed (non-retractable) tricycle landing gear with a castering nose wheel and steering via differential braking on the main wheels. Production of the aircraft started in 2001. The SR22, certified in November 2000, is a more powerful version of the earlier SR20. Design and development 2004 Cirrus SR22 G2 front view, showing how the doors open 2007 Cirrus SR22-G3 Turbo 2013-built Cirrus SR22 G5 2017 Cirrus SR22 G6 This has contributed to its market success and has given it the nickname "the plane with the parachute". The Cirrus SR22 has a whole-plane emergency recovery parachute system: the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS).
With 7,737 units delivered from 2001–23, and in combination with the SR20, a total of 9,548, it is the most-produced GA aircraft of the 21st century, and is the single most-produced GA aircraft made from composite material, accounting for nearly 50% of the entire piston aircraft market.
The SR22 series has been the world's best-selling general aviation (GA) airplane every year since 2003. It is a development of the Cirrus SR20, with a larger wing, higher fuel capacity, and a more powerful, 310-horsepower (231 kW) engine. The Cirrus SR22 is a single-engine four- or five-seat composite aircraft built since 2001 by Cirrus Aircraft of Duluth, Minnesota.