"Jay Honeck" writes:

As you no doubt already are in your current airplane, and as you should
when transitioning to any new aircraft. Beyond that would you be more
cautious, and if so why, and what form would that take?

I think being aware of the current spate of mishaps should make ANY Cirrus
pilot more cautious.

I keep them in mind and try to learn something from each one. But
simply being "more cautious" is a lot like the government asking us to
be "more vigilant" when they start talking about Credible Threats.
Trying to make an honest self-assessment is important. Simply being
more worried isn't helpful. I haven't changed my flying habits based
on any of the accidents, however, but I'm a pretty conservative pilot.

If I were lucky enough to own a new SR-22, I would make a more concerted
effort to learn all the gee-whiz stuff while I was parked in my hangar. I'd
also make a conscious effort to keep my eyes outside of the plane while in
flight, and avoid difficult flights until I had a few hundred hours in the
bird.

All of your points are spot-on, though I might rephrase the last one
as "work my way up to more difficult flights by becoming experienced
and comfortable with easier ones, and by bringing an experienced
instructor to help expand my skills and build confidence." A few
hundred hours is an awfully long time. It probably took me 30 hours
to become comfortable with the plane, and another 30 to become as
proficient as I thought I was. ;-)

The points that you make are not about being "more cautious" though;
they are fundamental to flying any plane of this complexity, and the
training reflects all of them.

Clearly the most difficult aspect of all of the new planes (including
the new-but-venerable Cessnas) is learning to manage the avionics.
Flying solo IFR with them is crazy until you have them down cold.