Post deleted by archbold
see, http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=0f6a8cf2-8600-46b7-9c5a-56b07e4886d1&
It appears this fellow deployed the chute when he entered a spin somewhere between 13,000 and 16,000 feet
Parachute Deployment Saves Another Pilot and Passenger in Their Airplane in California
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20 September 2004, 6:16pm ET
Pilot & His Wife Are ‘Saves’ 168 and 169 for the BRS System
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. (BB:BRSI) ( http://www.BRSparachutes.com ) learned today of another spectacular save of a certified aircraft, when a 65 year-old flight instructor and his wife successfully deployed a BRS parachute system late yesterday near Stockton, California. Pilot, William Graham, 65, told authorities he and his wife Barbara were flying a Cirrus SR22 from Redding to San Diego, California when his aircraft encountered a problem at approximately 16,000 feet. Moments later, Graham radioed that he had turned off the engine and deployed the plane’s on board emergency BRS parachute. The pilot and passenger floated down safely, landing in a tree in a San Joaquin County walnut orchard. After a frantic search and rescue, the Grahams were spotted by local emergency response officials with the plane’s chute draped from some tree branches. Both Pilot and passenger were able to walk away from the incident without apparently suffering any injuries to themselves and only minor damage to their plane.
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BRSI 2.20 0.11dollars or (5.26%)
BRS (Ballistic Recovery Systems) is a South St. Paul, Minnesota-based company that designs, manufactures and distributes whole aircraft emergency parachute systems for use on general aviation and recreational aircraft. Mark Thomas, President & CEO of BRS was thrilled to hear the news of this happy ending, and reiterated that until more airplanes are equipped with BRS systems, we won’t rest easy. “Improving aviation safety is the prime objective of BRS and saving lives is our most gratifying accomplishment,” added Thomas. “Our system works, and we want to continue to do our part to make aviation safer for everyone who wants to fly.”
Since the early 1980’s, BRS has delivered over 19,000 parachute systems to aircraft owners around the world including over 1500 systems on certified aircraft like the Cirrus Design aircraft manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota. Actual documented uses of these systems are credited with saving the lives of 169 people. In April of 2004, BRS learned of two deployments in Cirrus aircraft within 36 hours of each other. On Saturday, April 10th a Ft. Lauderdale pilot deployed his plane’s BRS parachute system landing in a Cypress grove in North Lauderdale, Florida. Also, on April 8th flying over the rugged mountains in British Columbia, a grandfather, his grandson and two family friends encountered trouble but were able to recover and land safely after deploying a BRS parachute.
In July, the FAA certified BRS parachute system for installation on Cessna 182 models of aircraft. In September, BRS was named one of Minnesota’s Fastest Growing Technology companies, based on revenue growth over the last five years.
Someone should check the WX in the area for the time is happened. If I understand correctly, it happend on Sunday and Sacramento area had major thunderstorms.
Is there an issue with the Cirrus and turbulence causing a spin? This seems from the surface to be the second deployment where turbulence has caused the pilot to deploy. The first being in the mountains in Canada early this year. I don’t seem to hear (the chute always brings the attention of the media) about other aircraft accidents from turbulence while enroute at a high altitude. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t go through the NTSB postings on a regular basis.
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Is there an issue with the Cirrus and turbulence causing a spin? This seems from the surface to be the second deployment where turbulence has caused the pilot to deploy. The first being in the mountains in Canada early this year. I don’t seem to hear (the chute always brings the attention of the media) about other aircraft accidents from turbulence while enroute at a high altitude. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t go through the NTSB postings on a regular basis.
Edward;
As you point out, the “chute” tends to get everyone’s attention, and it is a bit premature to determine, but there are a few things that we do know.
- The aircraft was traveling slowly because in was in a climb at a high altitude.
- All planes can stall and/or spin when the are traveling slowly and are upset by some external or even internal force.
- Stalls sometimes result in spins.
When one of these events happen, a pilots options are
- Recover from the spin or stall
- Crash
- Pull the chute
This last option is not available to all pilots.
The reason you don’t hear about other aircraft who stalled or spun in from high altitude or other variations on pushing themselves or their aircraft is often because they are dead.
P.S. Just because you slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night will not necessarily provide you with additional options.
Edward:
You are asking a good question and it is too early to speculate. But it does appear that the common thread in both accidents that you have mentioned is the fact that both planes were on autopilot and, as a result of the circumstances in both incidents, the autopilot caused the plane to climb in such a manner as to get too slow and stall.
Remember that the autopilot has no idea of the airspeed of the plane. It is given a command to either climb or fly level and it will do as it is told until speed runs out.
Dur to the option of the chute, both pilots elected to pull the chute rather than recover from the spin. In the second incident, this was due to the fact that the pilot was entering IMC conditions.
We will not know if the plane would have recovered inboth cases if the chute was not pulled. This was a judgement call in both cases to just pull the chute. So we will never know.
Therefore I do not think you can draw any conclusions other than to say that having a chute makes you likely to use it in spin situations since that is what is taught in Cirrus training.
The reason you don’t hear about other aircraft who stalled or spun in from high altitude or other variations on pushing themselves or their aircraft is often because they are dead.<<
Not quite…The reason one doesn’t hear about fatal spins from high altitudes is because they hardly ever occur. In fact, the only high altitude fatal spin I ever recall hearing about was a King Air last year. I think it was overweight and/or out of balance, and one faulty engine, entered a flat spin from over 10,000 feet and evidently hit the ground with one engine at full throttle (not exactly anti-spin input). There are a couple that have spun in from 4000-ish or less (a Pitts pilot and a Cirrus…both several years ago), which seems to take some effort, but the vast majority of fatal spins begin under 1000 feet.
Also, the first tubulence-induced chute pull was over extremely high terrain…I think nearby ridges may have been 11,000 (am I correct?). With a few thousand feet clearance at most, very thin air, night-time, etc., I wouldn’t waste much altitude trying to recover from anything if I had a chute option.
On the other hand, at 15,000 or better AGL…that one stumps me…I’d gladly ride a spin down 10,000 feet or more before pulling the chute
Brian,
I posted back in July regarding a trip across the Rockies with my wife on our Honeymoon…here it is…
“Our first leg of the day took us SW to Rapid City SD. Although it was nice and cool at DLH, the temp was 96 at RAP. I managed to vapor lock the engine for the first time ever…took me an hour to get it started before we could head off for a quick detour around Mt. Rushmore and then on to Coeur D’Alene ID for Sunday evening. We crossed the Rockies about the same time as some high t’storms and ended up catching the bottom 500 feet of a rather dark cloud…Although the turbulence was not too bad, it was obvious that we were in a pretty significant downdraft…when my airspeed dropped to 80 knots, I disengaged the autopilot and just rode it down until I dropped out of the bottom of the cloud deck at 11,300 feet.”
I was surprised at how quickly my airspeed deteriorated. As I recall, we were in moderate, but not severe turbulence. The big issue was the downdraft. I suspect that the plane would have stalled on me in another 2 seconds if I had not disengaged the autopilot…I would have been surprised if it would have dropped into a spin, but I can easily see how this could happen in severe turbulence and a significant downdraft…the dangers of mountain flying!!
FWIW
I know what the POH says, and I know what the accident record shows…
But I wonder if there is anyone in the fleet of growing Cirrus experience who has spun, not pulled the chute and recovered? No I’m not talking factory test pilots, just regular folks, who have inadvertantly spun and recovered. Is every spin an accident or have some resulted in normal (non chute) landings?
Steve
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In fact, the only high altitude fatal spin I ever recall hearing about was a King Air last year.
David, I think you are thinking of this accident with a Mitsubishi MU-2. I have not heard about anything like this happening with a King Air–which is such a docile turboprop compared to the MU-2.
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There are a couple that have spun in from 4000-ish or less (a Pitts pilot and a Cirrus…both several years ago), which seems to take some effort, but the vast majority of fatal spins begin under 1000 feet.
The Cirrus you refer to was reported by witnesses to be doing near-aerobatic maneuvering (i.e., screwing-around) for a while before it entered a stall and spin, so you are correct that it took some effort.
kind of interesting…
found this extra bit on chute pull…
"Stone said William Graham has 25 years of flying experience and has worked as a flight instructor. The pilot told authorities he was returning from a seminar in Redding, where he instructed fellow aviators on how to use Cirrus’ parachute system in the event of an emergency. "
So what are you and Dave saying exactly? He pulled the chute just for the fun of it? That the Cirrus just goes out of control willy-nilly whenever it feels like it?
Come on guys, the smell test of competitors posting on a web sight of the leading and completely dominating past ankle nipper is over whelming!
To be specific, Bill was one of the instructors at the CPPP (recurency training) in Redding. I flew with him and attended one of his ground school segments. I thought he was a very good instructor and quite thoughtful about safety issues. The “chute” discussion came up in a broader conversation of risk management (as it naturally would in any training involving a BRS equiped aircraft).
actually I am an investor with Cirrus, love the plane, and think it is the best thing since sliced bread…just found it ironic that the chute was pulled right after a training session that included “pulling the chute”
guess that was a little too much for you tonight…
+)
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actually I am an investor with Cirrus, love the plane, and think it is the best thing since sliced bread…just found it ironic that the chute was pulled right after a training session that included “pulling the chute”
guess that was a little too much for you tonight…
+)
What is, “an investor with Cirrus”?
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just found it ironic that the chute was pulled right after a training session that included “pulling the chute”
The irony wasn’t lost on me. [:)]
I am an investor…
for about 6 years now…
In reply to:
I am an investor…
for about 6 years now…
If your an investor, how about investing 50 bucks and joining COPA?