A "Good" plane crash
 

While no plane crash is good, at least this one everyone walked away.

Cirrus SR-22 with the parachute system had engine trouble shortly after take off

Plane makes emergency landing in north Harris County neighborhood | News - Home

Big safety ad for the Cirrus parachute system.....but the motor should not have quit. Bad gas, lack of adequate wrenching?

Always amazes me why everyone with a small plane doesn't have that system for a last resort. I remember reading that JFK jr. was thinking about one on his plane, a little too late unfortunately.

They aren't that expensive and the parachute company makes a retrofit kit.

JFK's crash was over water......yes, it was July but the North Atlantic is colder than a well digger's ass, it was night time and the plane floats like a VDO clock. Prolly would not done much beyond having nice looking corpsicles.

He crashed in Long Island Sound. Water is around 70F in July.

If I had a small plane I would try and retrofit a system like the Cirrus.

Great little plane, BTW.

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I never saw a final report on that one but as I remember, he was in a zero-visibility situation and probably hit the water when he thought he was up in the sky. Possibly upside-down when he thought he was right side-up. So a parachute would not have helped. :(

But I could sure see it saving people in a hell of a lot of other crashes.

Speeder, not sure where that came from never heard of the 0 visibility angle. He had just broke his foot, had a cast on, a lot of experts think that definitely had a play in the accident. With the water 70 degrees, less drowning on impact they very well could,ve survived especially since because of who he was half the 7th fleet and the entire e. coast CG was searching for them!

Just going from memory...maybe not zero visibility but it was dark and over water. As for "who he was", President Clinton decided at the time that his family had given more blood and service to this country than the average bear and he, (Clinton), took responsibility and any heat for the recovery mission. I agreed with him. But let's not PARF this, sorry if I did.

While still technically VFR, he was flying cross-country, at night, in near IMC towards the end (lots of haze/fog), without an instrument rating, and VERY little time in type. Most of that time was with a CFI in the right seat. Oh, and all of that with a bum foot/ankle, which had given him trouble with manipulating the rudder pedals on previous flights.

He should have never even considered that flight without his CFII tagging along (who offered to do so), especially with 2 other souls on board.

I remember it like yesterday. what a shame. makes you wonder what could've been had he deployed a chute etc...

A BRS chute is certainly a worthwhile consideration, but it's useless in any CFIT type of accident.

Cfit??

Yep. To quote "Top Gun", "...we regret to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid".

Regulations are not the same thing as personal minima / limits. Kennedy was in way, way over his head (both before and after hitting the water).

The only thing that is useful in CFIT is life insurance.

You can only tie the record in CFIT.

I think (I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong) that once you deploy it, the airframe is totaled. That might dissuade some folks from buying it, or even using it (or waiting too long to use it).... "Oh I can land this". But I agree, I'd have it - Cirrus come with it, Cessna can retrofit it... I asked a Cessna rep once it wasn't that expensive, given the price of aviation gizmos... I wanna say 5-10K but memory might be flawed... If they could make this less destructive, we'd have a pretty good solution on hand !

Controlled Flight Into Terrain

It is designed to save the life of the passenger when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. As far as the Air frame being a total loss. The SR-22 has some damage to one of the front wheels but was in otherwise good condition.

I suppose "Controlled Landing into Terrain" wouldn't have worked out, acronym-wise. :cool:

Apparently "14 of the aircraft involved in CAPS deployments have been repaired and put back into service".

"Revision A7 of the Cirrus SR22 POH currently states "CAPS deployment is expected to result in damage to the airframe" that updates the earlier language that "The system is intended to saves the lives of the occupants but will most likely destroy the aircraft."

It sounds like it's repairable in *some* cases, or the CAPS have gotten better.. Cool !! This is the thing that will bring me back to general aviation...

it is not uncommon at all for a "totaled" aircraft to be repaired back to service for one reason or another.

When I worked on Twin Otters that was our companies biggest revenue stream, lease the Twotter out for 5 years, they wreck it inside of 3, the company take the insurance payout, buys the written off remains and repairs and puts them back in service. That is a fairly unique aircraft because until recently it could not be replaced, but I have seen a Twotter valued at 1.8M get over 2M in repairs....

A parachute is a good idea, but there are some downsides.

Controlling weight is critical with airplanes, and adding a chute system to an airplane that was not designed for it will increase its empty weight considerably- possibly turning a four-seat airplane into a three-seater, or at least severely limiting how much baggage can be carried.

If the chute is installed in the same position as the Cirrus, behind the cabin, it will make the airplane tail-heavy. Even if the airplane is below its maximum weight, it may be difficult to keep the airplane within its legal CG (Center of Gravity) range. Airplanes come with detailed charts to calculate exact weight and balance to insure normal flight characteristics. Flying nose-heavy or tail-heavy will turn you into a test pilot!

While parachutes are available for several airplanes now, they are not popular outside the Cirrus, that comes with them from the factory.