Ex-Walmart CEO pulls chute

Having taught in the Cirrus, it blows my mind that so many are not going to take the guaranteed out of the CAPS system. Barring having a good runway in the wind screen, or being outside of the envelope to decide against it, you are going to survive a deployment in the event the airplane has an engine failure.
 
mshunter said:
it blows my mind that so many are not going to take the guaranteed out of the CAPS system.
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That is my point, The CAPS system is great but it is hardly "guaranteed" any more than a military ejection seat is guaranteed. I know that this is what Cirrus sells in their training, but that doesn't make it true. Deploying the CAPS parachute is the lesser of two evils, which in many circumstances (such as this accident) is the right call, but other circumstances it may not be.

As a pilot you still need to use good judgement and understand the limitations of the safety tools available to you. There are a multitude of things that can and have gone wrong even when the CAPS was deployed in the certified envelope. As noted, one pilot had a fire and pulled the parachute which resulted in his burning to death. If that pilot had attempted a conventional engine out landing ASAP, he would have had a much greater chance of survival. Others have drifted down onto obstacles which then made the airplane tumble down terrain and/or structures landing on the roof vs the landing gear which led to some serious injuries.

For the record, none of this places saving the airplane into consideration. If I use the chute or crumple the landing gear in a field, the plane is totaled either way, and the insurance company can have it.
 
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mshunter said:
Pulling the chute gives you way better odds than trying to Bob and weave in between poles and cars.
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That's the point. Based on the image, bobbing and weaving would not have been required. But better to hit a car at 30mph on the landing roll than take a perfect chute impact, let alone the risk of it not being perfect.
 
NickH said:
That's the point. Based on the image, bobbing and weaving would not have been required. But better to hit a car at 30mph on the landing roll than take a perfect chute impact, let alone the risk of it not being perfect.
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In that scenario, I would disagree with you.

If you don't have CAPS, then you have to accept the "least bad" landing/crash site. With the CAPS parachute, if "bob and weave" to avoid the cars and light poles enters the decision making process, pull the chute and accept the known risks of the vertical impact vs the possibility of hitting a light pole at 50 ft and cartwheeling.
 
USMCmech said:
In that scenario, I would disagree with you.

If you don't have CAPS, then you have to accept the "least bad" landing/crash site. With the CAPS parachute, if "bob and weave" to avoid the cars and light poles enters the decision making process, pull the chute and accept the known risks of the vertical impact vs the possibility of hitting a light pole at 50 ft and cartwheeling.
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I'd take the chute over the 50' light pole too, but the poles are fixed. The cars are the unknown. The 30mph frontal impact with good harnesses and airbags is preferable to the vertical drop. I'd still be thanking Cirrus for putting those airbags in.
 
NickH said:
I'd take the chute over the 50' light pole too, but the poles are fixed. The cars are the unknown. The 30mph frontal impact with good harnesses and airbags is preferable to the vertical drop. I'd still be thanking Cirrus for putting those airbags in.
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See I don't know what the likelihood of a 30mph impact in a cirrus is. I'm led to believe they land substantially faster than a 152. My general impression is that it's be more akin to ditching a Navajo.
 
Roger Roger said:
See I don't know what the likelihood of a 30mph impact in a cirrus is. I'm led to believe they land substantially faster than a 152. My general impression is that it's be more akin to ditching a Navajo.
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It's entirely arbitrary, based on the concept of landing in not quite enough space. Landing roll is about 1200' at max gross. We can draw that 'virtual runway' in a dozen or so different places and directions in the area depicted and stay well clear of cars and poles. The area isn't that tight, however, in my worthless set of assumptions, the most likely miss-judgement would result in a longer touchdown and ground roll than expected, and so an entirely imaginary 30mph speed sounds very reasonable and logical.
 
Old Pete said:
Which is why it is a stupid and idiotic comment. S. Truett Cathy didn't have racist bone in his body. He hired blacks in the 1940's in segregated Atlanta and in 2009 received an award from the king center. You sir are a racist pig.


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Stoopid and idiotic... Hmm.
In the words of Father Guido Sarducci, "Some preachers like-a to say 'forever and ever', but I think 'forever' covers it." ;0
 
Crop Duster said:
Nope. It's a "racist, sexist, homophobic restaurant placing itself on a street named after a civil rights leader" kind of ironic chuckle.
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So I was out having drinks with folks from work the other night, including a gay girl and her wife. They started talked about the sauces at chick fil a and upon receiving my withering 'wtf' face they said that their community is cool with chick fil a now. FWIW.



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Honestly, for a lot of folks I know, the solution is "donate $ to a pro-LGBT charity for every visit." Kinda like carbon credits, except for restaurant politics. That chicken sandwich is pretty tough to keep boycotting if you've already been sucked in by the Crack-Fil-A! :D
 
mshunter said:
As far as I know, there hasn't been a single fatality from a proper chute deployment.
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This was years before the FIKI approval. I was talking to a center controller few years ago and was told a story where a cirrus was flying in heaving icing conditions, iced up/lost control and went to pull the chute. Apparently the plane was going faster than the parachute could handle during deployment and failed to open. Worst part was the pilot holding the PTT and on the frequency was the sound of him and the family screaming during the entire fall.
 
brigadeaviator said:
This was years before the FIKI approval. I was talking to a center controller few years ago and was told a story where a cirrus was flying in heaving icing conditions, iced up/lost control and went to pull the chute. Apparently the plane was going faster than the parachute could handle during deployment and failed to open. Worst part was the pilot holding the PTT and on the frequency was the sound of him and the family screaming during the entire fall.
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Outside the envelope, all bets are off. And not just for chute deployment.
 
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