Originally Posted by
Brickfire
I was skeptical at first. At least with the pistons at nearly 25 years and dozens and dozens (? Over 100) pulls nobody has obviously been harmed by the chute. Have been a number of people who died for not pulling it
You're sure about that?
Other than the aircraft that slowly burned under canopy, during descent, and was caught on film? Other than most of the pulls that occurred needlessly? Other than Cirrus's insistence on calling each pull a "save" when it was, in most cases, quite the opposite?
The CAPS system on the Cirrus has a clear, long-term effect of inducing pilots to treat the parachute like a portable alternate airport, flying into conditions where they never should have been, and that they wouldn't have entered, without the false confidence of the parachute. Under such circumstances, when the CAPS is fired off, it's hard to claim a "save" when the owners manual states quite clearly the warning that deploying the parachute is likely to cause destruction of the parachute, and may result in death. Deployments such as in the mountains at night in IMC in thunderstorms, for example...might be termed a "save" because the occupants didn't die. By the same twisted logic, one might fire a rifle down mainstreet, and when one by sheer luck no one dies, pronounce it no big deal.