Note the steepness of the grade of the mountain.
Looks like no one would have survived that terrain without the chute!
I would have expected the chute to be more visible. I guess if or when this happens we need to get out and spread out the chute to make us easier to locate.
Can you say lucky boys and girls???
.
I’ve read CAPS deployed planes are declared a total loss. Is this because there is more damage than it appears or is it somehow written into the certifcation of the plane? Or am I wrong?
In reply to:
I would have expected the chute to be more visible. I guess if or when this happens we need to get out and spread out the chute to make us easier to locate.
Right! You could also indicate the color of your chute on your flight plan.
In reply to:
I would have expected the chute to be more visible. I guess if or when this happens we need to get out and spread out the chute to make us easier to locate.
Remember that this accident occurred at night. Anyone know how they located the plane at night? ELT? Flashlights? Radios?
Cheers
Rick
In reply to:
You could also indicate the color of your chute on your flight plan.
Pop quiz! How do you find out the color of your parachute? (Apart from pulling the handle!)
Extra credit question: Name all of the colors that Cirrus has shipped.
-Mike
What a testimony for the chute!! Come on GA—more chutes as standard equipment!!! So what if it saves pilots who may or may not have errored—they are ALIVE!!! GREAT technology!
In reply to:
Pop quiz! How do you find out the color of your parachute? (Apart from pulling the handle!)
Extra credit question: Name all of the colors that Cirrus has shipped.
-Mike
It’s in your POH on one of your nice plane-specific pages.
extra credit … hmm … I’m going to guess they shipped white and orange & white.
The blue ones were just for testing.
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The blue ones were just for testing.
IIRC, mine is blue and red!
He talked to a commercial flight who circled until help arrived.
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From the tree trunk-to-ground angles, it doesn’t look like the grade is very steep (3% grade maybe) where the plane came to rest. It even came to rest on what appears to be a gravel fire road! The slope in the top left corner of the picture DOES seem to be getting steeper, but it can’t be too steep, or the photo plane would have smacked into it at that AGL altitude - unless the photo was taken from a helicopter (The photo was not taken with a telephoto lens - note the reflections from the window glass.) Note also the stream at the bottom of the picture. It is flowing left-to-right and there is a nice bend (towards the top of the photo) in it just where the road intersects it, indicating a rather flat spot in the slope. ( I think the apparent steepness is due in large part to the angle of the camera lens to the ground and the lack of a horizon line in the picture.
Its interesting that someone took the time to fold up the parachute. Time on their hands or fear of high winds dragging the plane into the trees?
Bill,
If what we were told by Mary at Cirrus last week is correct (and I believe it is), your observations are accurate. There were photos of all of the CAPS pulls on a bulletin board in the plant. We all talked about this incident and she indicated the plane actually ‘landed’ about 100’-200’ upslope on a much steeper part of the mountain. After the passengers got out, it slid down to the location pictured. The photo in the plant depicted a fairly gradual slope at the final resting place.
FWIW
Cirrus didn’t want to set any expectations of salvage of the structure. It is better to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised. The first plane to pull the chute in anger is flying again and certified after about $100K of work. It came down through tree branches which may have cushioned the fall. TIme will tell as to what happens to the last two candidates for post chute pull restoration. The bottom line is that you pull the chute when you are worried about yourself and not about the plane.
In reply to:
I’ve read CAPS deployed planes are declared a total loss. Is this because there is more damage than it appears or is it somehow written into the certifcation of the plane? Or am I wrong?
At least one airplane which has used the CAPS is back flying, so I would tend to say that the hangar talk you have herd is incorrect.
But that is probably the wrong way to look at the situation. Most pilots would not use the CAPS unless they thought their lives were at stake. In most of these cases, if the pilot cannot land safely, for whatever reason, the plane is likely to be a totla loss and the pilot, passengers, and perhaps some on the ground would be dead. I don’t think the residual value of the airplane would be much of a factor in those cases anyway. Isn’t that what insurance is for?
Insurance protects the owner for the value of the aircraft. CAPs protects the occupants for serious injury or death.