Cirrus Aircraft · Single-engine piston plane
Cirrus SR20
Is the Cirrus SR20 safe? It ranks Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary of 23 small planes we rate, with 19 fatal accidents counted in about 3.1 million US flights since 2008.
Likely range 43 to 55
How the score is built
- Fatal accidents
- 19 in 3.1 million flights
6.2 fatal accidents per million flights. Counted: all civil flights in the United States since 2008 (private, training, charter and other), accidents and unexplained losses; not counted: accidents outside the United States or before 2008, military, test and illegal flights, sabotage, hijackings, shoot-downs and deliberate crew acts.
- Full-loss equivalents
- 17.3
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 3.1 million
Estimated flights of all kinds in the United States since 2008. Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US piston singles in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 1,234 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (2.25, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022), at 0.83 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 228 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±25%.
- Technology generation
- Single-engine piston plane
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 5.6 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 215 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 92%.
- Likely range
- 43 to 55
The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.
- Last fatal accident
- 11 June 2026
Private, Wheelers Mill, OH, United States of America: 1 of 1 people on board died.
- Aircraft destroyed
- 11
Aircraft the NTSB coded as destroyed in an accident in the United States since 2008, fatal or not, from all causes. The NTSB codes many wrecks as only substantially damaged, so the real number is higher (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Cirrus SR20 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A day of skiing1 in 830,000
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- One flight on the Cirrus SR20This aircraft1 in 180,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
19 fatal accidents in the United States since 2008 count toward the score, with 37 people on board killed.
| Date | Flight | Killed | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Wheelers Mill, OH, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | Just after takeoff from Portsmouth, Ohio, the SR20 banked left, then fell almost vertically, rolling, onto a house garage near Wheelers Mill and burned. The pilot died; the parachute was only partly out. The investigation has not published a cause.Cause not yet established; counted.Type: Unknown causeNTSB docket | |
| Unknown operatorCirrus SR20 · Toms River, NJ, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | On a solo night circuit flight at Ocean County Airport, New Jersey, the student levelled off about 450 ft after his fourth takeoff, then entered a descending turn over dark forest; the SR20 hit trees and burned. He died. NTSB: disorientation after take-off stopped the climb.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Coast Air CenterCirrus SR20 · San Diego, CA, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | Flying circuits at Montgomery-Gibbs, San Diego, a solo student came in low at 140 knots, ignored calls to go around and reported a trim problem. Near the runway end he pitched up and rolled right; the SR20 stalled and hit the ground. He died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Conway, AR, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | After takeoff from Conway, Arkansas, the pilot called an emergency landing; the flying club SR20 flew over the runway very fast, banked steeply and spun into the ground. He died. The pitot tube cover had been left on.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Mountain Lion AviationCirrus SR20 · Truckee, CA, United States of America | 1 killed / 2 on board | Climbing out of Truckee, California, on an instructional flight, the student turned steeply at low speed; the SR20 stalled and banked 90 degrees right. The instructor fired the parachute about 500 ft up, too low, and it hit the ground. The instructor died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Santa Maria, CA, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | On his second solo cross-country, a student pilot went around at Santa Maria, California, then flew a steep descending turn onto final. The SR20 stalled and dived 2 miles short; the parachute fired too late to open. He died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Jacksonburg, WV, United States of America | 2 killed / 2 on board | On an instrument flight near Clarksburg, West Virginia, the pilot deviated around storms and reported heavy rain. Soon after resuming course the SR20 descended fast from 8,000 ft with sharp turns and hit trees. Both died. NTSB: spatial disorientation.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Safe Aviation LLCCirrus SR20 · Houston, TX, United States of America | 3 killed / 3 on board | Landing at busy Hobby Airport, Houston, among airliners, the pilot got complex ATC instructions and went around three times. On the last, she raised the flaps at too low a speed in a turn; the SR20 stalled and spun in. All three on board died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Navasota, TX, United States of America | 4 killed / 4 on board | Practising circuits at Navasota, Texas, with an instructor, the uncertified owner banked steeply left at low speed after takeoff. The SR20 stalled, rolled inverted and dived into the ground. All four on board died. NTSB: the instructor acted too late.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Unknown operatorCirrus SR20 · Lake Wales, FL, United States of America | 1 killed / 2 on board | On an instructional flight near Lake Wales, Florida, smoke and a low oil pressure warning appeared: stuck piston rings had starved the engine of oil. The instructor diverted, came in high and fast and went around, but power was low; the late parachute did not save the student.Type: Engine failureNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Bolingbrook, IL, United States of America | 2 killed / 2 on board | Landing at Clow Airport, Bolingbrook, Illinois, too fast with a tailwind, the SR20 touched down halfway along the runway and the pilot went around. Turning left at low height, it hit a tree and a light pole beside a bank and burned. Both died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Moscow, TN, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | In a hurry to beat bad weather, a pilot without an instrument rating left Millington, Tennessee, in poor visibility. After 25 minutes low he climbed into cloud, lost control and the SR20 dived into trees near Moscow. He died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Elite AviationCirrus SR20 · Duck Creek Village, UT, United States of America | 4 killed / 4 on board | Flying a likely overloaded rented SR20 toward Bryce Canyon at a density altitude near 9,300 ft, a pilot with little fixed-wing time tried to cross a ridge; the stall warning sounded for minutes, then it rolled inverted into terrain. All four died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Crystal Lake, IL, United States of America | 4 killed / 4 on board | A pilot without an instrument rating overflew West Chicago in cloud and declined to land or divert, fearing weather delays. The SR20 entered a tightening spiral in cloud and dived into the ground west of Crystal Lake, Illinois. All four died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| Unknown operatorCirrus SR20 · Fredonia, AZ, United States of America | 2 killed / 2 on board | Some 16 hours into a long trip west, two pilots without instrument ratings changed course in the dark toward several airports as fuel ran short. The SR20 flew into trees and terrain in the Kaibab National Forest near the Grand Canyon; both died. NTSB: fatigue.Type: Flight into terrainNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America | 1 killed / 3 on board | Landing fast at Horace Williams Airport, North Carolina, the SR20 bounced several times and veered off the runway. The pilot went around at full power with flaps up, and it ran 840 ft across the grass into a tree and a fence. One of the three on board died.Type: Runway excursionNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Boulder, CO, United States of America | 2 killed / 2 on board | Near Boulder, Colorado, the SR20 flew into the right wing of a Piper towing a glider; neither pilot saw the other against the ground and a white overcast sky. Both on the Cirrus and the Piper pilot died; the glider landed safely.Type: Mid-air collisionNTSB docket | |
| Delta Connection AcademyCirrus SR20 · Deltona, FL, United States of America | 2 killed / 2 on board | On an academy instructional flight near Sanford, Florida, the pilot under training let the speed fall while manoeuvring with half flaps; the SR20 stalled and spun. The parachute fired too low to open, and both pilots died.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket | |
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Menomonie, WI, United States of America | 3 killed / 3 on board | A newly instrument-rated pilot flew at night toward New Richmond after warnings of icing. Descending into cloud, the SR20 began a right turn and dived into the ground near Tainter, Wisconsin; all three died. The parachute safety pin was still in its handle.Type: Loss of control in flightNTSB docket |
Listed but not counted
These events happened on military, test or illegal flights, or were caused by a crime or a deliberate act, which says little about the aircraft design.
| Date | Flight | Killed | Why not counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrivateCirrus SR20 · Indianapolis, IN, United States of America | 1 killed / 1 on board | Deliberate act by a crew member. On a short flight from Indianapolis Executive Airport, the rented SR20 made a 360-degree turn, then dived steeply into the ground beside a railway in a residential area. The pilot died. NTSB: he flew into the ground on purpose to take his own life.Type: SecurityNTSB docket |
Seven of the 19 counted fatal SR20 accidents in the United States since 2008 were training flights, the highest share of any single-engine type we rate. That fits how the SR20 is used: it is the Cirrus that many flight schools and flying clubs choose. Per flight, its record is better than the SR22's and weaker than the Diamond DA40's, the other modern composite trainer, though its likely range overlaps with both.
What is the SR20?
It was Cirrus's first certified plane, first flown in 1995 and delivered from 1999: a four-seat, low-wing composite plane with fixed gear, a smaller engine than the SR22 and the same whole-airframe parachute. The FAA register grew from about 630 SR20s in 2008 to about 1,460 in 2026, so the record rests on few events. Confidence is medium: the events are few, but the score rests almost wholly on the SR20's own record.
How a school plane is counted
Our small-plane figures set US fatal accidents since 2008 (from the NTSB database) against US flights (take-off to final landing) worked out from the FAA register and the FAA General Aviation survey. The survey gives hours for single-engine pistons as a class, not per type, so airframe hours in NTSB accident records and, to a lesser degree, hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers set each type's share. Those measures show that an SR20, often a school or club aircraft, makes about twice as many flights a year as an owner-flown SR22, so its accidents are spread over more flights and it comes out ahead of the SR22. A flight in any small plane carries far more risk than an airline flight; that is true of the class, not a warning about the SR20. See our method and the small planes ranking.
What goes wrong in SR20 accidents?
Up to 28 October 2026, 19 fatal accidents count, with 37 deaths, in about 3.1 million flights: 11 private or other flights, 7 training flights and 1 ferry flight. A rented SR20 flown into the ground on purpose at Indianapolis in January 2023 is listed but not counted.
Loss of control in flight accounts for 14. The pattern is stalls at low height: in turns after take-off, on base or final, and in go-arounds. At Houston Hobby on 9 June 2016, a pilot sent around three times among airliners raised the flaps at too low a speed in a turn, and all three on board died. Three of the training accidents killed solo students, one at night near Toms River, New Jersey, on 2 September 2023, when the NTSB found disorientation stopped his climb after take-off. Weather is the other theme: in at least two crashes a pilot with no instrument rating flew into cloud.
The parachute on training flights
In four fatal records someone pulled the parachute in flight, all on training flights, all too low. On 17 February 2009, an SR20 of Delta Connection Academy spun near Sanford, Florida; the parachute came out but did not open, and the NTSB wrote that a deployment below about 900 feet in a spin was unlikely to work. Near Lake Wales, Florida, on 22 July 2015, the instructor called for it at about 400 feet, the height an SR20 is shown to lose in a level deployment. Near Truckee, California, on 15 June 2021, the bank reached 81 degrees after take-off, the stability system's roll mode was active for 2 seconds, and the pull came at about 500 feet. The fourth was a solo student near Santa Maria, California, on 20 May 2020, whose pull came too late after a stall on final. On a private night flight near Tainter, Wisconsin, on 30 January 2009, the safety pin was still in the handle. A private SR20 that fell near Portsmouth, Ohio, on 11 June 2026 had its parachute only partly out; no cause is published yet.
Choosing a school or rental that flies the SR20
- Ask how instructors teach slow flight, stalls and go-arounds, and when the school expects you to pull the parachute.
- Ask what rules apply before a solo or a night solo.
- Do the full walk-around yourself. On 18 June 2021 at Conway, Arkansas, a club SR20 crashed with its pitot cover still on.
- Look up the school's N-numbers in the NTSB accident database and the FAA registry, and ask whether training runs under Part 141 or Part 61.
How to tell if you are on one
Flight trackers show SR20.
Questions people ask
Is the Cirrus SR20 a good plane to learn to fly in?
Many schools use it, and in our data its record per flight sits between that of the bigger SR22 and those of the Diamond DA40 and Cessna 172, with a likely score range that overlaps all three. Seven of its 19 counted fatal US accidents since 2008 were training flights, most of them stalls at low height. The quality of the school's instruction matters more than the type.
How many fatal SR20 accidents have there been?
Our data counts 19 fatal SR20 accidents in the United States from 2008 up to 28 October 2026, with 37 deaths. One more, a crash the NTSB found was a suicide, is listed but not counted.
Did the parachute save anyone in the fatal SR20 accidents?
In the four fatal records where we know it was pulled in flight, all on training flights, it came out too low to slow the aircraft enough. Our data holds fatal accidents only, so it cannot show the times the parachute worked.
What is the difference between the SR20 and the SR22?
The SR20 is the smaller-engined, slower model with the same layout, composite airframe, fixed gear and parachute. It is more often used for training and rental; the SR22 is mostly flown by owners on longer trips.
Sources
- 1.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Wheelers Mill, Ohio, 11 June 2026 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 2.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Deltona, Florida, 17 February 2009 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 3.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Lake Wales, Florida, 22 July 2015 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 4.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Truckee, California, 15 June 2021 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 5.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Menomonie, Wisconsin, 30 January 2009 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 6.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Santa Maria, California, 20 May 2020 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 7.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Conway, Arkansas, 18 June 2021 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 8.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Houston, Texas, 9 June 2016 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 9.NTSB docket: Cirrus SR20, Toms River, New Jersey, 2 September 2023 (opens in a new tab) · National Transportation Safety Board
- 10.SafetyScorer exposure model: FAA aircraft register, FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey, OpenSky ADS-B, NTSB airframe hours (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds in the United States (private, training, charter and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026, each counted from take-off to final landing: the hours of all US piston singles in each year (active aircraft and hours from the FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey), split between types by US-registered aircraft (FAA register, 1,234 of this type in 2024) times how much each type flies against its class (2.25, mostly from airframe hours in NTSB accident records, partly from hours per aircraft seen by ADS-B receivers in 2019-2022), at 0.83 hours per flight from ADS-B tracks: about 228 flights per registered aircraft per year in 2024. Flights and accidents outside the United States, or before 2008, are not used. Against the FAA's hours per helicopter model, this method is off by about 22% on a typical type. Uncertainty roughly ±25%.