The Chute Works!!

This was just posted on the AV web.
“AWW, CHUTE…”

"The chute worked like a charm. And the prize money will come in handy

to pay the fines," said Joe Eschenbach after landing his Cirrus SR-20 in

El Centro, Calif. Eschenbach, was returning last Sunday from in Mexico

and was 12 miles south of Calexico, Calif., his port of arrival, when

the engine quit. Without hesitation, he used the Ballistic Recovery

System parachute. A stiff wind out carried the airplane to NAS El

Centro, where the Blue Angels had just finished performing. Eschenbach

was greeted by a cheering crowd estimated at 400,000, and a fleet of

U.S. Customs helicopters estimated at seven. The stiff wind had

befuddled the best of the airshow pilots, but Eschenbach nailed it, and

won the spot-landing contest for the weekend.

Nice ending, although this puts him in the end of the line for another Cirrus SR-20? I would hope that he gets some preference on a new one, if he wants it. How many close calls have there been on the new Continental? The corn field landing, the Valdosta, GA forced landing, and now the first parachute landing (assuming it’s engine related). Does that seem to be a lot for so few brand-new planes flying with so few hours on them? Is an unhappy ending inevitable with this rate? Is this risk acceptable and comparable to other single-engine piston aircraft?

This was just posted on the AV web.
“AWW, CHUTE…”

"The chute worked like a charm. And the prize money will come in handy

to pay the fines," said Joe Eschenbach after landing his Cirrus SR-20 in

El Centro, Calif. Eschenbach, was returning last Sunday from in Mexico

and was 12 miles south of Calexico, Calif., his port of arrival, when

the engine quit. Without hesitation, he used the Ballistic Recovery

System parachute. A stiff wind out carried the airplane to NAS El

Centro, where the Blue Angels had just finished performing. Eschenbach

was greeted by a cheering crowd estimated at 400,000, and a fleet of

U.S. Customs helicopters estimated at seven. The stiff wind had

befuddled the best of the airshow pilots, but Eschenbach nailed it, and

won the spot-landing contest for the weekend.

April fools!

Nice ending, although this puts him in the end of the line for another Cirrus SR-20? I would hope that he gets some preference on a new one, if he wants it. How many close calls have there been on the new Continental? The corn field landing, the Valdosta, GA forced landing, and now the first parachute landing (assuming it’s engine related). Does that seem to be a lot for so few brand-new planes flying with so few hours on them? Is an unhappy ending inevitable with this rate? Is this risk acceptable and comparable to other single-engine piston aircraft?

This was just posted on the AV web.
“AWW, CHUTE…”

"The chute worked like a charm. And the prize money will come in handy

to pay the fines," said Joe Eschenbach after landing his Cirrus SR-20 in

El Centro, Calif. Eschenbach, was returning last Sunday from in Mexico

and was 12 miles south of Calexico, Calif., his port of arrival, when

the engine quit. Without hesitation, he used the Ballistic Recovery

System parachute. A stiff wind out carried the airplane to NAS El

Centro, where the Blue Angels had just finished performing. Eschenbach

was greeted by a cheering crowd estimated at 400,000, and a fleet of

U.S. Customs helicopters estimated at seven. The stiff wind had

befuddled the best of the airshow pilots, but Eschenbach nailed it, and

won the spot-landing contest for the weekend.

Guys,

As Mike has posted below, before anyone gets too carried away on this thread, remember it is april fools day…Avweb does this every year in their avfalsch…

They got me on this April Fools day, but I am still concerned about the safety record so far.

Nice ending, although this puts him in the end of the line for another Cirrus SR-20? I would hope that he gets some preference on a new one, if he wants it. How many close calls have there been on the new Continental? The corn field landing, the Valdosta, GA forced landing, and now the first parachute landing (assuming it’s engine related). Does that seem to be a lot for so few brand-new planes flying with so few hours on them? Is an unhappy ending inevitable with this rate? Is this risk acceptable and comparable to other single-engine piston aircraft?

This was just posted on the AV web.
“AWW, CHUTE…”

"The chute worked like a charm. And the prize money will come in handy

to pay the fines," said Joe Eschenbach after landing his Cirrus SR-20 in

El Centro, Calif. Eschenbach, was returning last Sunday from in Mexico

and was 12 miles south of Calexico, Calif., his port of arrival, when

the engine quit. Without hesitation, he used the Ballistic Recovery

System parachute. A stiff wind out carried the airplane to NAS El

Centro, where the Blue Angels had just finished performing. Eschenbach

was greeted by a cheering crowd estimated at 400,000, and a fleet of

U.S. Customs helicopters estimated at seven. The stiff wind had

befuddled the best of the airshow pilots, but Eschenbach nailed it, and

won the spot-landing contest for the weekend.

Guys,

As Mike has posted below, before anyone gets too carried away on this thread, remember it is april fools day…Avweb does this every year in their avfalsch…

They got me on this April Fools day, but I am still concerned about the safety record so far.

Setting aside the April Fool’s Day “crash,” the safety record so far, as I understand it, is:

  • a forced landing last year, in Illinois, because of a broken crankshaft. This was a very specific TCM issue, involving the batch of metal used in making a run of crankshafts, and it caused about a dozen forced landings in a variety of other planes.

  • the engine failure in Georgia, about which the details/causes still seem hazy (at least to me).

So really, there is one mysterious forced landing to account for, right? Zero would be better, but with 120+ planes flying this doesn’t seem on its face a terrible warning sign. Does it? Maybe someone more experienced than I in judging fleet-safety records can put this in perspective. Obviously, all patterns will be easier to judge when the plane has more years of operating history.

I think if Ford Motor Co. or any major car maker had two engine failures for every 120 cars they built, they would be in deep do-do, even though the automobile failures would unlikely be life threatening. Oh, I forgot, you can’t compare cars and airplanes. Airplane engines have all this redundancy to prevent this from happening.

Setting aside the April Fool’s Day “crash,” the safety record so far, as I understand it, is:

  • a forced landing last year, in Illinois, because of a broken crankshaft. This was a very specific TCM issue, involving the batch of metal used in making a run of crankshafts, and it caused about a dozen forced landings in a variety of other planes.
  • the engine failure in Georgia, about which the details/causes still seem hazy (at least to me).

So really, there is one mysterious forced landing to account for, right? Zero would be better, but with 120+ planes flying this doesn’t seem on its face a terrible warning sign. Does it? Maybe someone more experienced than I in judging fleet-safety records can put this in perspective. Obviously, all patterns will be easier to judge when the plane has more years of operating history.