Today Cirrus Aircraft announced the availability of Perspective ESP, a revolutionary safety and flight stability augmentation system by Garmin that will be available on Cirrus SR-Series Aircraft for new orders scheduled for Fall 2010 delivery. The key feature for Perspective ESP is that the system operates when the Garmin GFC 700 autopilot has been disengaged, that is when hand-flying. Perspective ESP operates in the background and if the pilot becomes incapacitated, disoriented or distracted, the system uses the digital autopilot servos and sensors to detect and help correct unsafe flight conditions. After it senses things are back to normal, it goes back into the background. Similar systems of this sophistication and capability were previously available only the world’s most advanced and most expensive ‘fly-by-wire’ business and military jets.

Pat Waddick, Cirrus Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer commented, “At Cirrus Aircraft, enhancing flight safety is the most fundamental driver of the design of our aircraft and of every business decision we make. Since the beginning Cirrus has provided the most complete array of active and passive safety systems and features in general aviation. Our multi-layered approach to safety includes a cuffed wing, built-in roll cage, side yoke, 26G seats, airbag seatbelts, the ‘blue level button’ and of course the game-changing whole airframe parachute system CAPS^TM just to name a few of the innovations that put pilot and passenger safety first. We believe that Perspective ESP is not just the next safety feature and pilot benefit in that list, but instead an enhancement as important as the parachute itself. That’s why we have worked closely with Garmin to be the first and to date only airplane in our class to offer it.”

Waddick continued, “The safety benefits of Perspective ESP are profound. Loss of control is the number one cause of flying accidents. Now with Perspective ESP, pilot workload is further reduced as you have all the power and capability of the most advanced cockpit in general aviation to actively monitor and safeguard against unusual airspeeds and attitudes, entry into stalls/spins, or the onset of other potentially unsafe flight situations. Not only will ESP alert you to the severity of the situation, but it can also provide active feedback and ‘soft’ flight control inputs to recover the plane back to normal flight. It is truly an order of magnitude advance in technology for the GA cockpit.”