Delivery Day
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01 May 2007



Pilot Section

It is a long journey from Singapore to Duluth, and I was conscious that I wanted to minimise the effects of jet lag before I started playing with aeroplanes! I travelled by Singapore airlines 19.5 hours direct to Newark, stayed overnight at Newark and then travelled onward to Duluth via Chicago courtesy of Northwest Airline, arriving early afternoon of Monday 30th April, the day before my delivery.
 
Through the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) I had already made contact with Andy Niemyer. A resident of Duluth, ex-US Navy aviator and experienced Cirrus SR22 owner and pilot, Andy has helped many new Cirrus owners with their delivery inspections. Andy met me at the Country Inn & Suites Hotel on Monday evening and we went for a very pleasant meal in a Duluth micro-brewery to talk through the delivery process as well as exchange Navy stories!
 
Cirrus have worked hard to make the delivery of a new Cirrus aircraft a positive experience for owners and I cannot speak highly enough of their professional sales team, handled in my case by Iggy Burkhardt my initial point of contact in Texas, and Lori Stenzel who handles international customer relations from the Duluth office.
 
I was scheduled for 0800 delivery slot on Tuesday morning and duly arrived at the very smart Cirrus Customer reception, met Andy again and was introduced to Lori Stenzel and a couple of other owners taking delivery on the same day.
 
My aircraft wasn’t quite ready at the advertised 0800 time so I was given a tour of the Cirrus factory first – which further reinforced my positive impressions of Cirrus. They say they are producing 15 new aircraft per week at Duluth, and according to the April 07 production figures prominently displayed on the wall of the plant, they had delivered 65 aircraft in April, mostly SR22s (seemed to be a failry even mix of Turbo and Normally Aspirated versions) and a rather smaller number of the lower powered SR20s. Photography is not allowed during the tour for fairly obvious reasons, but the factory tour was a fascinating insight into Cirrus, helped cement a few technical knowledge points about the SR22 aircraft for me, and added to my confidence in the Cirrus product.
 
After the factory tour we went to the Customer lounge overlooking the delivery hangar and from the gallery watched them roll in N238JG, shiny and new, ready for delivery!!

 
I was introduced to my delivery pilot Kevin Korteum and together with Andy we went down into the hangar. Cirrus start the delivery by taking the new owner’s photograph with their aeroplane, and then we were into the serious business of the the delivery inspection.

 
These days the number of “Squawks” found at Cirrus delivery inspections is negligible. Nevertheless, as an owner who has spent a lot of money on a new aircraft this is an important first hour or so with your new aeroplane and your opportunity to have the manufacturer fix any issues that you do find. However, for a new private owner like me, the serious aspects of the inspection are mixed with the excitement of seeing your new plane for the first time. Being new to the SR22 aircraft I didn’t feel I had enough practical experience in the details of an SR22 to properly do the inspection myself. This was why I had asked for Andy Niemyer’s help. Whilst I went round the aircraft with Kevin checking off items on the standard Cirrus check list, Andy got his torch out and was literally under the aircraft and poking into all the remote corners. He also insisted on removing the engine cowling and talking me through a few issues on the engine which had caused problems in the past on other aircraft.
 
In fact, N238JG was almost squawk free. An oxymeter was missing from the Oxygen mask and canula set (immediately replaced), the fairing of the undercarriage was not quite aligned properly, (which Cirrus subsequently fixed overnight) and a couple of incredibly minor paint defects were found and rectified. Had I done the acceptance inspection myself and found so few points, I would have wondered whether I had completed it thoroughly enough, and it would have been nagging me whether I had missed something. Having Andy there gave me the confidence that his more experienced and structured approach to delivery inspections would help ensure the inspection was thorough.
 
After the inspection we had a very pleasant sandwich lunch in the Cirrus lounge while N238JG was prepared for the acceptance flight. At this point the aircraft still belongs to Cirrus, so Kevin took the left seat, I took the right seat and Andy flew with us in the back. The aircraft had 3.5 hours factory flight testing already logged prior to the acceptance flight.
 
We took off to the West in glorious sunny weather with Kevin running through brief checks on all the arcraft systems to demonstrate they were working properly. Which they weren’t.…! It appeared that we had a autopilot problem causing the aircraft to hugely overbank. Having determined this issue we carried on with the rest of the acceptance flight, returning back after about 30 minutes for an ILS approach to runway 27. Again, the auotpilot played up and would not control the aircraft smoothly down the localiser for a coupled ILS approach, but with the autopilot disengaged everything else worked fine for a hand flown ILS approach and we landed after about 45 minutes.
 
After the acceptance flight the aircraft was taken back into the hangar for the “squawks”, including the autopilot issue to be fixed and I got down to filling in a mass of paperwork to formally take ownership of N238JG.
 
By 1500 we were done, I returned to the Hotel to get some sleep in preparation for the UND SR22 type training the next day – one very happy, if still slightly jetlagged, new Cirrus owner!!




Kids Section

Whacky Stuff: The cool colours of N238JG are new for the G3 version of the SR22. and Cirrus sent Dad the colour options to choose. Choosing the colours was a team job -
 
Jasmine and Mummy chose the “MonzaRed” colour for the outside (which is really red and gray stripes on the white backround). N238JG is THE FIRST SR22 G3 to have this cool colour scheme!
 
Hallin chose the “Sand and Onyx” colour on the inside, including black facia around the instruments.
 
Fun Fact: A landmark of Duluth is the Aerial Bridge. Built in 1905 it can lift up the road to let ships pass underneath and into Duluth Harbour.
 
Quiz:Duluth is at the western end of the Great Lakes that lie on the border between USA and Canada. Look on your map – which of the Great Lakes is Duluth on the shores of? (Answer tomorrow)