No problem, Neil.
I fly mine from a grass strip regularly … look here
www.airwork.biz/flying-2/how-to-do-a-soft-field-take-off-in-the-sr22/
And ask Bosco, he’s flying his from bush strips.
The wheel pants will suffer after some time, so i bought a second used set. While one is beeing painted the other one is beeing ruined :-)
Coming back to the oxygen concentrators, I believe they are the future for turbo (and turbodiesel) versions of SR22, DA40 and 42, C182, Bonanzas, etc…and some companies are starting to produce them (e.g. http://ainonline.com/aviation-news/ain-news-live/eaa-airventure/2013-08-01/zodiac-onboard-oxygen-generation-system-installed-cessna-206). They have been in use in military jets for decades (and still are because fighter jets are lightly pressurized to better resist artillery). The main advantages compared to the bottles are: you can fly high to places (e.g. south of Europe) where oxygen refils are not available or are VERY expensive (plus, in case of accident, you don’t have oxygen and avgas on the same plane!). Plus, you can set a very high oxygen flow above fl180 and keep using cannulas (oxyarm is great for comfort!) instead of masks. To avoid dry nostrils, they can have pulse mode (like O2D2) or have a water-rechargeable humidifier. Plus you can use VERY high flow and use diffusers (designed specifically for the oxyarm) that don’t touch any part of your face (very comfortable).
So far I’ve experimented up to FL220 with an Eclipse 2, the military version, certified to provide oxygen to wounded on medevac helicopters. It is possible to find brand new and “cheap” (1000-2000Eur) units from European military hospitals who upgraded to Eclipse Generation 3 (not a big difference with the 2, but you know militaries…always the best). You need to have a 200Watt plug in your plane: I commissioned an EASA-approved Minor Modification design to install a 24V/9Amp cigar plug in any SR22, which now is granted (arounf 1000Eur for license plus installation). The Eclipse has the size of a small backpack and sits on the floor between the rear passengers in the SR22 (almost unnoticeable, but in future Cirrus may install it in the tail). If plane electricity should go off, the unit continues to run on batteries for at least 1 hr. The high power plug can come handy for any application, not just oxygen generators (e.g. laptops).
Only drawback is that it can only generate a maximum of 3L/min continuous or 6L/min pulsed, so it can really serve only 2-4 people depending on the altitude and the type of cannula used (4 people at fl180 with mustache cannulas are ok). But more powerful models are coming in the market (the question is if the plane alternator can take it).
Please let me know if you have questions.
How are SR22s on grass strips?
Fine in my experience as well. I operated off the grass runway at Cambridge for a few weeks when they were resurfacing the main runway (after the RAF had been training steep approaches for pilots flying to Afghanistan…) 
Hi Alexis, happy you enjoy G-YORC (and to be clear with everybody here, the DFC90 was installed by Alexis, so his crusade against Avidyne for A/P disconnections is not my fault :-)
Mi insurer is Allianz, so I hope you are right to say that exceeding max gross weight would not stop them paying in case of chute pull. My only concern is that chute pulls often end up with gears, and sometimes also wings, broken, and I’m afraid an insurer would argue that if the plane came down at a slower speed under the chute, those crash damages would not have occurred…
Mi insurer is Allianz, so I hope you are right to say that exceeding max gross weight would not stop them paying in case of chute pull. My only concern is that chute pulls often end up with gears, and sometimes also wings, broken, and I’m afraid an insurer would argue that if the plane came down at a slower speed under the chute, those crash damages would not have occurred…
Then you would have to call Signor Gallileo as an expert witness…….
Hey Valerio,
I LOVE the DFC90! It has happend a few times but it’s probably the dirtyservos (because Valerio flew on A/P too much! :-)) that were responsible for the disconnects. I am sure that this will not occur again once I have cleaned/replaced them all! Also I got a replacement A/P computer from Avidyne to make sure it’s not the Computer itself.
What I did not like was the way Cirrus Germany in EDAZ treated these disconnects (“it’s all okay”).
You shouldn’t worry. about this. It’s a very theoretical thing, because the plane would be heavily damaged anyway if it came down by cute. And you know, it is NOT very likely that you will ever need CAPS anway.
The fact is that the ONLY procedure recommended by Cirrus in the POH in case of engine failure is CAPS, and everybody knows that the plane will be damaged heavily then. I have not heard that the insurance in any CAPS scenario investigated the weight of the plane. You never know for sure, but I would not worry about it. And you don’t plan to fly 200 lb over MTOM all the time, right?
Galileo :-)
(And now I better go buy some presents or I can tell my kids that I had no time because of EuroGA)
Thank you Valerio, very interesting. looks like the technology is now approaching a state where these generators make sense in SEPs.
You say
If plane electricity should go off, the unit continues to run on batteries for at least 1 hr
Does that mean it has its own battery?? I would want a generator without battery to save weight and space!
Also, would the generator be field-removable (for those flights where it is not needed)? If put into the tail, it won’t be I guess…
I was rather thinking to call Sir Newton, since I’m based in UK, but your right, Galileo can be convinced (ask the Church how) to not say always the truth!
To answer Bosco, yes it has its own battery which can be removed (8.1kg with battery, 6.6kg without). And yes, the whole concentrator can be removed from the plane in 2 seconds (if it was fixed, one should get an STC, but for the plug you just need a Minor Mod EASA approval, which still required a fair bit of engineering effort from an Austrian design shop to dimension the cables and their paths around the Cirrus).
