Cirrus Ditching 253 Miles from Maui....

Nice find. Here's a screenshot from one of those videos flying over the pacific... the text is in his video...

Based on the number of videos he has, he looks like he makes a living or at least supplements his income by professionally ferrying Cirrus internationally.
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This was indeed an issue with a valve to one of the aux tanks. He had a sat phone and was in constant contact. Unfortunately he wasn't able to fix the valve issue. This was a pro pilot ferrying this aircraft to Australia. The aircraft was indeed nose-down for a long time. The current thought is that perhaps this was due to an altered CG from the aux tanks and extra fuel.

 

There have been 51 CAPS saves equating to 104 lives saved. The only parameters that needs to exist is sufficient altitude AGL and being under a certain IAS. Otherwise it really is as simple as pulling the handle.

 

Unlucky that it happened on just about the longest stretch of ocean with no alternate landing sites. Most other places along the route to Australia, there would have been an alternate landing possible.

 

Exactly. Like I said earlier, this the the best and worst stretch of open water. Worst because its the longest (and without a divert airport), best because of the high shipping traffic.

Its kind of scary to sit through class and see how much of the planet has NO SAR's capabilities. Second on the pucker factor is flying across the Amazon. You can go hours without seeing another airport on the display.

 

Yes. But it should be called a ferry tank, not an aux tank. When it's called an aux tank, people think this is a factory option that they can order if they want more fuel. These ferry tanks are rigged up in the back seat area. Usually the back seats or even more of the interior is removed. Many times the interior is shipped separately to save weight.

As far as the system failing and should have been tested. You got to remember these are used to ferry a plane, then pulled out and shipped back, then installed in the next one, and so on, ad infinitum. These are not permanently mounted like your stock fuel system, so I can see how it could fail more often than a stock system.

 

Cirrus SR22 Pilot Releases Selfie Video from Ditching | Flying Magazine

 

Unreal

 

That guy looks like fighter pilot material.