Aero-TV Exclusive: Something New At Cirrus -- Known Ice ...

Another Cirrus Upgrade Coming To The Market For over a week, ANN and Aero-TV personnel have been in Duluth, MN, helping to document the major announcement that you are seeing and hearing now. Cirrus Aircraft is introducing its new "X" series of aircraft, a feature rich series of upgrades to the decade long revolution started by Alan and Dale Klapmeier. Chief among these upgrades is an eye opener... Cirrus' "KIP" Known Ice Protection... an FAA certified FIKI system based on well-tested TKS technologies and an extensive series of modifications that allow high-end Cirrus SR22s equipped with the Perspective flight deck to deal with a number of known icing conditions (accompanied by an in-process FAA exemption on stall speed that should be complete shortly). The KIP program, called project "KIWI" by the folks who were in on the secret development project, has been years in the making and required extensive engineering, serious rework of the airframe and construction protocols, and lots of flight testing... some of which was fairly intense. There are a number of features inherent in this massive upgrade... extended TKS panels for the wing, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizers (including the very end of the leading edge of the elevator counterbalance), as well as dual rate redundant TKS de-icing fluid pumps, a windshield TKS application system, prop slinger, an ingenious wing/tail icing detection light, heated stall detection vane, larger/dual TKS reservoirs, Perspective software upgrades that monitor the entire works, and so much more... And while they did all this, they went on a weight reduction program that cleansed nearly 50 pounds from the airframe... making this airframe even more capable, lighter and ready for just about anything. And by the way, a KIP equipped SR22 can be had for less than $600K... which is a shocker... until you realize just how committed Cirrus is to make the case for aviation around the world with products that just make 'plane sense.' Mind you, FIKI capability doesn't ...