Cirrus down with parachute East Texas

Stephen Shore

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Happened yesterday. IFR conditions - ceilings at Gladewater 07F were at 800-1500' most of the day.

It sounds like he floated down OK but then the wind caught the chute and drug the airplane for quite a distance until it impacted a fairly large tree in a stand of timber.

https://www.news-journal.com/news/c...cle_f03654ee-003c-5e21-9242-dd692dd91bfc.html

An obvious starting point in the debate if he would have been better off gliding down to an off field landing or pulling the chute. The IFR conditions make it a tough choice in my opinion, but I am sure that for alot on this forum there will not be a hard choice - but an obvious one, whatever that might be.
 
No debate. If you’re following the training, you pull the chute. IFR or VFR doesn’t matter. When you apply discretion to what you were taught, you increase the house’s odds.
 
My first instinct was to think "My God there's nothing but houses, businesses, and a school there."

But we're not talking about the ETX VOR :D
 
And with 800'-1500' ceilings, you would be very limited as to your landing spot.

I guess if the minimum pull altitude is 1,000' AGL, then you might be able to get low enough for a look.
 
...An obvious starting point in the debate if he would have been better off gliding down to an off field landing or pulling the chute...

Seriously, is this even a debate any more?
Any objective review of the Cirrus fatal accident statistics over time makes the answer abundantly clear.

Let's move on and discuss more important stuff, like why Textron has all but abandoned supporting piston aircraft, or why Piper still makes planes that the wings fall off, or why Mooneys are better than Bonanzas (but high wings beat them both). :D
 
And with 800'-1500' ceilings, you would be very limited as to your landing spot.

I guess if the minimum pull altitude is 1,000' AGL, then you might be able to get low enough for a look.

There really is no minimum pull, if you are spinning in, pull. But generally minimum recommended is 400 to 600 depending on model. In a pull situation you should make the decision by 1,000 minimum if you have the choice.
 
I believe this pull was at about 500’ and the plane had stabilized under the chute just seconds before impact.

Dang, that's a low pull. Better lucky than good I guess. Until those line cutters level the airplane, I'd rather dead stick it than touch down and eat the engine and my kneecaps. CAPS wasn't meant to touch down engine first. Though that discussion is embedded in the altitude limitations they publish, I don't think Cirrus stresses that part about the riser sequence enough, and it's a game changer imo in terms of the decision matrix to pull below 1k AGL. Under stress, people are terrible at gauging AGL altitude, especially without a radar altimeter.

But again, better lucky than good, and better chute than no chute when that toYs-r-uS cylinders powerplant gives you the finger. Glad to hear these folks walked away from it.
 
What is the failure rate of the Continental engines in Cirrus? It may be a faulty perception on my part, but it just seems like an inordinate number of engine failures with the SR22s, or maybe they are just more publicized?
 
Probably the right call; you can dead stick a 172 on a boat ramp and walk away. But popping out that low in an airplane without that sort of very short field capability. . .
 
What is the failure rate of the Continental engines in Cirrus? It may be a faulty perception on my part, but it just seems like an inordinate number of engine failures with the SR22s, or maybe they are just more publicized?
Because they fly more. A lot more.

Tim

Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
 
What is the failure rate of the Continental engines in Cirrus? It may be a faulty perception on my part, but it just seems like an inordinate number of engine failures with the SR22s, or maybe they are just more publicized?

I don’t know anything about this accident but a majority of the engine failures that occur within a few miles of the arrival airport are fuel related.
 
What is the failure rate of the Continental engines in Cirrus? It may be a faulty perception on my part, but it just seems like an inordinate number of engine failures with the SR22s, or maybe they are just more publicized?
I’m actually very interested to know the numbers on this as well. As important, what exactly is failing and is there a pattern to a certain part failing or is it caused by “operator error” ?
 
My friend has a Cirrus and says the new safety training in the event of engine failure or something similar it to use the chute unless you have a runway available, no trying to land in a field or on a road. I think Cirrus is mostly right about this.
 
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