Looks to be another successful Cirrus BRS deployment for a plane off of KMDD (Midland Airpark). The Cirrus plopped down on a pickup truck in the parking lot of ClayDesta Plaza office complex, which is adjacent to KMDD. No injuries. Video and report is in the link. https://www.cbs7.com/content/news/A...-to-plane-crash-near-ClayDesta-497227701.html
found some online reports he suffered an engine failure at approx 475 feet AGL. Pilot was very grateful he had the CAPS to save the day.
N729TG shows a 2016 SR22T, it certainly was a nice plane. Glad they made it through the ordeal alright.
More than that. Certainly for a G5. It’s around 600 iirc. On G2 they teach 500ft. G5 is heavier with a bigger chute
You answered your own question. At the moment of impact do you want to be behind that heavy engine or ahead of it?
They descend nose low for a specified amount of time until line cutters release it to a level attitude. I believe the idea is to force the plane into a known attitude and get out of an unusual attitude. A supposed friend of this pilot stated he lost his engine at 450 feet which is below the parameters for this plane. so he would have been nose low until impact. The truck likely saved the pilot's life by absorbing a lot of the energy. Had he pulled at a higher altitude, the cutters would have done their job changing to a flay attitude, allowing the gear/undercarriage to take the bulk of the force.
I wonder if someday Cirrus will get sued. Seems like a fair chance that at some point the uncontrollable fall will kill people on the ground. Just imagine the headlines if it falls in a school playground.... even if it doesn’t hit anyone.
"So, we started walking toward the door and the parachute deployed. When the parachute deployed, it just picked the plane up totally vertical and just sets it down like a mama sets a baby down.”
Never had any problem with mine. The report will be interesting; what if it's pilot error (fuel mismanagement)?
Yeah. 600ft CAPS altitude on here. Same year, model, and paint job as mine. I got a weird feeling when I first saw the pic. Glad everyone is ok.
Have you seen the video? He was coming down pretty slow and IMO would have been fine with or without the truck there. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/n...e-parachutes-crashes-truck-Midland-Texas.html
The ClayDesta building is a pretty hoity-toity office complex infused with lots of Clayton Williams' money so, speaking as guy who officed there some years back, I can vouch that the ClayDesta parking lot has a three-foot layer of shock-absorbing foam under the asphalt that would've likely kept that plane from being totaled had it not hit that pickup. We used to spend our lunch hour diving out of our 3rd story window onto the cushy pavement and freaking out passers-by. That parking lot was just so darn soft!
Very low pull (well below the generally recommended 600ft safe zone for a G6) so the line cutters had not yet fired and released the plane to horizontal. If anything, this makes me feel even more comfortable with the chute. Even if you do hit head on (fully vertical) at 15-20 mph, that is highly survivable in a modern cockpit with airbags, 4 point belts and nothing hard (yoke) to hit with your head.
Since Cirrus instituted the aggressive procedures training, use of the chutes has been much better understood and implemented. As a result, the Cirrus has magically become much safer! Joking aside, the chute, the plane and the training have been conclusively proven to be solid safety advancements.
How about training to dead stick into the mountains, or a crowded urban area, or with an incapacitated pilot? Let us know how that goes.
I like your avatar Kenny. But since I doubt you'll ever be able to afford a Cirrus, more training may be your best bet.
I know a guy who lost the engine in his Mooney over Los Angeles at night. Set it down on a city street, went between two parked cars. Pilot and passenger both walked away. He bought another Mooney, not a plane with a chute . . . . .
