Originally Posted by
block30
First Australian Cirrus Chute Pull Ends Well
I have never flown a Cirrus or any other aircraft with a ballistic recovery chute installed, so I don't know first hand what the training is, or what the de facto chute pulling mentality is. I've heard second hand some 'horror' stories about a sort of 'pull the chute and ask questions later' mentality.
Finally, to the guy's credit, he did look for other places to land-"an airstrip or country road to set down on," but he also ended up in what seems to be an open field. Also, I find interesting his qoute, "We were on the ground
less than a minute after the
oil gauge indicated the problem.'' Wow!
I'll add my two cents to this discussion.
I have flown both the SR-20 and SR-22 in a Part 135 charter operation. I ended up with a total of about 900 hours in Cirrus aircraft. I
loved flying the aircraft and if it wasn't for the price tag, I'd own one by now.
One thing to keep in mind, once the decision is made to pull the handle and deploy the parachute, the pilots become
passengers and are just along for the ride. Every situation is different but my thoughts are it's better to dead stick one to a field or road if at all possible. The aircraft handles beautifully at low speeds and one
should be able to walk away from a dead stick landing. As for impact forces, we were told in training that the impact for a parachute landing is equivalent to jumping off an 8 ft. ladder.
I can't attest to emergencies in the aircraft because I never had one. Great IFR aircraft and it handled well in even a moderate crosswind.
G'Day Mates
