Cirrus SR20

The Cirrus SR20 is a four/five-seat, single-engine, low-wing composite airplane certificated in 1998. It made Cirrus Aircraft's reputation by introducing several features that were unusual for a piston single at the time and have since become signatures of the brand: an all-composite airframe, a side-mounted control yoke (a "side-stick" rather than a yoke between the pilot's knees), glass avionics, and — most famously — the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), a rocket-deployed parachute that can lower the entire airplane to the ground in an emergency.

The SR20 is the smaller-engine member of the Cirrus SR family, sitting below the more powerful SR22. Its combination of modern systems and the parachute made it both a popular personal airplane and, increasingly, a primary and instrument trainer — particularly at schools that want students learning on glass and on the same type they might own later.

Cirrus has refined the SR20 across multiple "Generations" (G1 through the current G6), improving the wing, interior, useful load, and avionics over time, while keeping the parachute and composite construction that define the type.

The SR20 has evolved through successive generations and is part of a two-model family:

• SR20 G1/G2 (1999–2007): the original production airplanes; later G2s moved fully to glass primary flight displays.
• SR20 G3 (2007–): introduced a new wing with greater fuel capacity and structural changes.
• SR20 G6 (current): the latest generation with updated Cirrus Perspective+ (Garmin-based) avionics; current SR20s use a fuel-injected Continental IO-360 (200 hp).
• SR22 / SR22T (related): the larger-engine siblings (310 hp, turbo optional) built on the same basic airframe — a common step up from the SR20.

The figures below describe a representative modern SR20. Note that early SR20s used a different Continental engine designation; the current model is the IO-360.