Cirrus Pilots :/

Why do you assume he had great pilot skills?

 

Its a good thing he didn’t make it south of 635 because after that it’s all neighborhoods and congested shopping centers (maybe not on a Sunday at 11:30 though). The area he landed in is all industrial but still congested with lots of warehouses.

This could’ve ended much worse

 

Another questionable CAPS deployment. I found this article from a few years ago. Without reading the NTSB report and/or talking to the pilots, my initial reaction is a bit of a head scratch for now.

So many of the CAPS "saves" could have been dead-stick or emergency landing/ditching "saves" as well.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/july/24/how-cirrus-reduced-accidents

 

Just saw the pic of SR22 in the street. Scorched cowl on starboard side, blade tips not bent (no or minimal rotation at impact). Engine seized or he shutdown? Took off from Addison on way to Waco, hard to think nothing within gliding distance. But I dunno, will wait for the report.

 

What's the minimum altitude agl to deploy the chute?

 

I just looked it up. Minimum "demonstrated" deployment 420-920 feet AGL depending on wings level vs a spin. YMMV I suppose.

Looks like he was approx 2000' AGL from ATC track file. Without knowing the particulars, hard to say if he could have kept power in until able to execute the sporty 180 back to KADS or maybe continue on into Love Field.

what's SR22 glide ratio? 9:1 ? So at 2,000 AGL he coulda maybe gone 3 nautical miles.

I must admit, my initial thoughts would be to try and get landing assured at a runway then maybe kill the motor if it's spewing flames versus a letdown under canopy in a busy metroplex with the same fire threat still in close proximity.

 

You and me both Rob. The guy pulled it at 11 am on a Sunday morning when Inwood road was most likely deserted and would present a great landing area. Also had a railroad running parallel which could've been used too.

Dumb luck. But I guess that beats skill and daring every time...

 

Question:

Is the plane reusable after a CAPS deployment?

 

Here's the vid of the CAPS landing in an office park in NY... security camera has the whole 'landing'....
Looks jarring, but they jump out and walk away from the plane.
From 2k feet alt.

 

Seats are designed for 16g. I can assure you the rest of the airframe is not. No telling how numerous or extensive damage is to the fiberglas laminates.

 

All pilots have practiced all kinds of stuff. They still crash these little singles all the time. I knew a lady who had a Seneca and killed herself and her husband and orphaned their kids because she got below Vmc after her left engine grenaded itself. She probably practiced Vmc demos many times with an instructor.

The point is, a lot of these private pilots panic when it happens in real life and there is nothing below you but trees and buildings. At least he pulled the chute, some of those cirrus pilots didn’t even manage to do that.

 

I would argue that trying to deadstick a landing in the most dense area of Dallas with large trees and buildings in most directions could have had a much more deleterious effect on the folks on the ground than a controlled descent under canopy.

 

and by the way, even though I no longer own one I did deadstick land a Cirrus years ago when I lost an engine over south Georgia.

 

When I was getting my PPL test ride I had 4 "forced landings" pulled on me, one in the middle of an eights on pylon maneuver at fairly low altitude. The inspector made me take it over a fence and almost land in a corn field before he applied power. Back then there was a lot of importance on forced landings and it was always on your mind and you were always looking at possible little airports.

 

Yes - forced landing is part of PPL check ride. But then you might never mess with it again for many years after. It is not a mandatory part of training...
When I had a DA40, I occasionally practiced the impossible turn at a safe altitude. Chop power, wait a few seconds for reality, then go for it. I needed 700 ft to realistically get it done safely.
Now I fly a turboprop and don't think about it quitting...

 

No- plane is totaled after deployment.

 

nojinx...and same. Hey, I sold my DA40 13 years ago. It was a neat plane, tight squeeze in the T-hangar tho.

BFR never really seemed to reinforce the quick decision tree required on engine failures. Will be interesting NTSB report on this recent SR22 incident.

 

I know of at least one Cirrus that is flying again after CAPS deployment.

 

Maybe it’s just their jet - but that’s what they told me..

 

I've heard that the plane is a total write off if the chute is pulled since the first Cirrus was introduced.