Enough Of The Excuses... Here Are Our Final Decisions On The Best Birds Of The Year

Final Compilations by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Roving Aeronaut, Jim Campbell

Each year, we put our heads together, look over reader input as well as our own reports and other sources of info and try to recognize the VERY BEST aircraft in a number of pivotal categories. This particular series will cover the aircraft we consider to be the VERY BEST of the whole breed.

The following award categories have been established:

• E-LSA Kit Category
• S-LSA RTF (Ready To Fly) Category
• Amateur-Built/Experimental Kit Category
• GA Piston-Single Engine Category
• GA Piston-Twin Engine Category
• GA Turbine-Single Engine (Turboprop)
• GA Turbine-Multi Engine (Turboprop)
• GA Turbine (Jet)
• Plane Of The Year (The Best Of Them All -- Regardless of Category)

Each year, the choices get tougher. Worse; we tend to also make it more difficult by tightening the reins on the decision making process so that it gets harder and harder to make the cut as the best in any category, much less wind up at the top of the pack as our Overall Plane Of The Year selection.

As this year came to a close, we also made some additional decisions as to what constitutes a "Best of Breed" and how wide we wanted to cast the net and wound up adding some categories to recognize some birds that truly deserved the nod. As noted in past years, it struck us that naming an overall "best" aircraft across the entire spectrum of general (or sport) aviation is probably no longer reasonable. Which isn't to say that we won't make a selection... but that we reserve the right not to do so if no specific aircraft steps to deserve the title. There are simply too many aircraft that have distinguished themselves in too many outstanding ways for one to readily be called better than the other on an overall basis. One man's perfect high-speed Hot-Rod, for instance, becomes the expensive "way too hot to handle" mistake of another pilot whose mission requirements may differ markedly. So... we're going to cop out -- just a bit, mind you. From here on out, we will name the best aircraft in individual categories, and reserve the right in the future to whittle down those categories as necessary which means that MAYBE we WON'T name an overall winner each year... and MAYBE  we will -- we're picky that way. The fact of the matter is that no one airplane is all things to all pilots, and within the spectrum that we have decided on, these are the aircraft selections that truly impressed us in each of the chosen categories -- and that each year, MAYBE there will be an overall winner... and MAYBE not.

Are we absolutely (crystal) clear on this now (grin)?

Let me also note that while aircraft that previously were named Best Of Breed in any category, or overall, are eligible for inclusion in this year's list, we have decided to make it more difficult (in our judging protocols) for a previous winner to take the top spot in our judging criteria, so that a repeat winner truly earns the distinction (and frankly, that hasn't happened in a while). And finally... we totally reserve the right to weasel out a bit and name more than one winner in a category where the margin of victory is simply too close (or subjective) to call.

That said, herewith our selections for ANN's 2009 Plane of The Year -- GA Piston-Single Engine

Cirrus Aircraft SR22 G3 Turbo FIKI

As tough as the GA market has become, one aircraft (in particular) continues to confound the market with its slowly increasing market share and the potential to lead the GA industry to a much-hoped-for recovery. As good as everything else is, these days, no other airframe has seen so much improvement, of such a substantial nature, as has the Cirrus series... especially the SR22.

As previously noted; one of the truly positive impressions we've gotten from this aircraft is that this is as "integrated" a bird as GA has ever seen (piston-wise)… everything works, everything works well TOGETHER, and the overall affect is a bird that performs like a thoroughbred, while maintaining the manners of a lapdog.

Over the past few years, Cirrus has honed the latest version of the SR22 airframe to a sharp edge, indeed. The G3 airframe revamp offered a considerable number of small updates that added up to being a major improvement -- AND THEN -- Cirrus added the Garmin Perspective system, including Synthetic Vision and that exquisite GFC700 autopilot… and if that wasn't enough, they added EVS, and the FIKI certification as 2009 got off to a start. And mind you, this aircraft earned FIKI certification at a time when its never been tougher for any aircraft, much less a piston-single, to do so.

While FIKI does not give one a license to act like an idiot, the capabilities we've seen and gleaned from reports from owner/operators assures us that this is a very serious transportation system... so that the advent of FIKI offers greater versatility, safety and capability than ever before. For the serious IFR flyer, this is one heck of a machine to consider (though we must note that we'd love to see Avidyne's R9 system available for the FIKI generation... the single-pilot IFR environment is about as tough as it gets these days and the exceptional usability of the R9 can only benefit this airframe).

When you add the simplicity of devilishly talented Tornado Alley Turbo-Normalized engine upgrade (simple, sweet, cool-running and so uncomplicated an Aerospace Journalist/CEO can fly it), you have a solid 250 mile an hour airplane (and then some -- at FL250) that we'll get you above most weather and do so with exquisite manners… and if your loads aren't too bad, and you can throttle back a mite, you can also head some 1000 nm down the road at FL250 with the same stability/control and handling we found at 'FL25.'

We really like this bird... so much so that we bought a non-FIKI demo late last year and have really enjoyed and benefitted from the ownership experience. As such, we have no problems recommending the Cirrus G3 Turbo FIKI highly.

FMI: www.cirrusaircraft.com