https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/2021/10/21/pilot-records-post-crash-video-before-first-responders-show/ From the article: “Committed to an airframe parachute deployment, yanked the handle and after a wild ride bouncing through the trees, the BRS Aerospace parachute delivered me safely to the forest floor.” He then editorialized on the subject, “Kids, if you fly single engine over hostile terrain, get an airframe parachute. Not sure I would have survived that without it.”
The answer to one of those questions is readily available online (the FAA says he does have an instrument rating) and FWIW it looks like the plane had a modern Garmin IFR-capable glass panel with synthetic vision to boot... but yeah, flying "a bit lower than [he] usually would be" to stay out of broken clouds didn't seem to leave him with many options.
Would you expect him to dead stick an IFR approach if he'd been higher? Either way I'm happy to read a post in this thread where someone lived to tell the tale.
Flying at 3500' leaves you little options and time in an event such as this, who knows what other options he may have had available to him at 10k. I have always been critical of the chute as a crutch, more specifically for guys that invest in a chute, but not training or an IR, or competent IR training AND flying. The chute is NOT a replacement for piloting skills.
Wearing a seatbelt is not a replacement for having good judgment while driving either … doesn’t means seatbelts are a crutch for irresponsible … investing in a chute is a good idea regardless if you do anything else - it can only help.
Agree 100%... All things being equal I would always prefer to have a chute... I don't now but I hope that my next airplane will.
