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PHOTO COURTESY OF CIRRUS AIRCRAFT
VISION CENTER
TRAINING FOR THE CIRRUS SF50 TYPE RATING
by Rich Pickett
Fire, fire, fire!” I was climbing through 10,000 feet in the Cirrus Vision Jet, “having just departed Knoxville (KTYS) and
joining the SWIFFT TWO arrival into Nashville (KBNA). I moved the thrust lever to idle, pitched to 120 KIAS, and waited 15 seconds to see if the FIRE light extinguished, indicating a bleed leak rather than an engine fire. No such luck. At 15 seconds, I still had the FIRE alarm sounding so next was Fire Acknowledge Switch activate and push one of the two fire extinguisher buttons. This canceled the alarm, but I still had a problem: gravity.
Now the fun began. I fly gliders, and while the jet has a reasonable glide ratio, it wasn’t a sailplane. Knoxville was close, so I started to load the RNAV 23R back at the airport. My instructor, Joe Logan, then reminded me, “You do know you don’t have two engines.” Oops, I forgot I wasn’t flying a multi-engine jet. I was at the Cirrus Vision Training Center in Knoxville for my SF50 type rating.
PHOTO BY AUTHOR
June 2022 / TWIN & TURBINE • 13