Zent Rose collects a new Cirrus SR20 G7 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and ferries it across the United States to Orange County, California.
What the video covers
Written in our own words. It only describes what the video shows and says.From Orange County to the Cirrus Center
In this video Zent Rose travels to the Cirrus Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, to take delivery of a brand new Cirrus SR20 G7 and fly it all the way home to Orange County, California. The trip starts the other way around, on airline flights: from Long Beach to Denver, on to Nashville and finally into Knoxville. At the Cirrus Center the aircraft is waiting for him. The simulator was out of service that week, so the handover goes straight to the airplane itself. The briefing is practical and specific to a new engine: once you call 600 feet and CAPS available, accelerate to 110 or even 115 knots to get more cooling air through the engine, because it is running warm. He also asks how much faster the airplane cruises at 75 percent power than at 65 percent, and the estimate is roughly 10 knots indicated.
Engine break-in and a storm across the country
The flight west turns into a real exercise in weather flying. A large storm system stretches across the entire United States, so most of the trip is spent going around the clouds, over them and under them. On top of that the new engine is still in its break-in period. To keep it at the required power setting the airplane cannot climb above a certain altitude, which makes it much harder to top the weather. The first stop is Monroe, Louisiana, the only place they could really land. After lunch the track on the map barely heads toward the west coast as they work around storm cells. He diverts about four times on that leg before deciding that Alva, Oklahoma, is the best option to refuel and land safely.
A business stop in Santa Fe and one leg home
From Alva they continue to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the final stop of the day. He explains that when you take delivery of an aircraft out of state, a business stop is part of how owners use the interstate commerce exemption on sales tax, so the next day is spent touring the city and looking at properties. He uses his own airplane for business too, including a film he is making about aviation safety. After a late dinner and a short night, the SR20 departs Santa Fe and flies to Orange County in a single leg of about 660 nautical miles. He credits the accurate fuel gauges of the Cirrus, which let him plan the flight without a fuel stop. Back home the airplane is parked, the pilot gets some sleep, and the delivery of a new Cirrus, more than 1,800 miles across America, is complete.
