Aspen Flying Club

Cirrus Transition Training

Cirrus is currently the world’s best-selling general aviation aircraft.

With four seats, a luxurious interior, the latest avionics, single lever power management, and the best cockpit automation available, Cirrus is renowned for being the only certified aircraft factory equipped with a whole airplane parachute. With cruise speeds above 145 knots for the SR20, and above 175 knots for the SR22, they are ideal cross-country aircraft. Equipped with dual screen glass panels, dual Garmin 430’s, autopilot, XM radio, a Cirrus is perfect for business or family trips, providing industry leading speed, comfort, and safety.

Aspen Flying Club’s Cirrus transition course is designed to prepare pilots to be current and proficient regarding VFR flight training in Cirrus aircraft. The course covers the unique operating procedures of the Cirrus aircraft for all flight situations. Transition training is designed to take approximately 10 hours to complete. As with all flight training, timely completion of this course is dependent on the performance and proficiency of the Cirrus pilot, the completion of the required prerequisites, and of course, the weather.

Transition training does not require an FAA practical test, Flight Review or an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC); however, all Cirrus pilots should follow the recurrent training schedule outlined in the Cirrus Pilot Learning Plan after successful completion of their training. At Aspen Flying Club, Cirrus training is considered to be advanced training and requires that pilots wishing to fly club-owned Cirrus aircraft meet certain flight hour minimums. See CLUB Policies and Procedures for minimum hour requirements.

Successful on-schedule completion of the transition course is heavily dependent on devoting the proper amount of time to reviewing and studying the pre-training material. The transition course is composed of seven required lessons and one optional lesson with a total of ten hours minimum of in-flight time. Cirrus pilots should keep in mind that these are just the minimums and that successful completion of the course is dependent on meeting all the requirements to Cirrus training standards.

Course Overview

  • Lesson 1: Ground lesson with the introduction to scenario-based training and Cirrus transition training.
  • Lesson 2: This flight lesson is an introduction to the operational characteristics of the Cirrus aircraft.
  • Lesson 3: This flight lesson is an introduction to normal procedures.
  • Lesson 4: The focus will be on abnormal and emergency procedures that are somewhat common to all aircraft.
  • Lesson 5: This flight lesson will focus on avionics malfunctions.
  • Lesson 6: This flight lesson will focus on systems malfunctions
  • Lesson 7: Lesson seven is the final evaluation flight in which the Cirrus pilot will demonstrate the knowledge and skill required to safely fly the Cirrus aircraft in single pilot operations.