Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-05)

When you f ly in a small aircraft at a low altitude,

the sensation is not so much that the world below gets

smaller. The overwhelming sensation is that the sky gets

bigger. Bigger than you’ve ever seen it, even from some

endless beach, or from out in the desert, or from out the

multilayered polycarbonate window of a commercial

airliner. The sky pulls you up and surrounds you—it feels

as if all the blue is keeping you aloft. You feel it in a way

you don’t on an oversold 10:45 from Chicago to Dallas.

I had the opportunity to go up in a Cirrus SR22 with

Easy. Take a ride.¶Most flight schools and small aviation

companies will charge you no more than a couple hundred dollars

for a taste—usually an hour ride, with an instructor. You get to

grab the controls for part of the time, zip around, maybe fly over

your house. It’s usually called a discovery flight.¶ Do this.

Make Me

Want to

Do This

The Cirrus SR22 is

equipped with a Cirrus

Airframe Parachute System.

In the event of an emergency,

you pull the red handle hanging

from the ceiling of the cockpit

and a 65-foot-diameter canopy

unfurls, controlling the

aircraft’s descent. Not

that you’ll need it.

@PopularMechanics _ May 2019 13