April 5, 2002
Customer Communication
CAPS Actions
After considerable review Cirrus has determined that the best long-term solution to the recent CAPS issues is to replace the activation system on all currently delivered SR20 and SR22 aircraft. This is to let you know that, within the next couple of weeks, we intend to publish information offering the opportunity to change out the whole CAPS activation system on all aircraft.
The new system will include a new low friction cable system, a new routing for the activation cable, new handle and new mounting brackets. Details of where and when work can be best performed will also be included.
Most Cirrus owners are aware of the two recent Service Bulletins about CAPS and of several ground tests performed recently. However, from our follow-on testing and analysis we at Cirrus believe that the variability in the effort required to activate CAPS from one instance to another is, in the long term, unacceptable.
This variability from one aircraft to another is driven by a number of factors. These include details of the original cable routing and the possibility of the cable taking a “set” from the original routing. The effort required can also increase with an extremely low temperature cable.
We understand that, even though this will be a warranty repair (including aircraft out of normal warranty), that this will result in considerable inconvenience for all of our customers and can only apologize for this.
Cirrus is dedicated to the safety of our pilots and passengers and we will continue to keep you informed.
Sincerely,
Alan Klapmeier
President and CEO
Cirrus Design