First off, Jtrains double post was excellent - great advice.
Secondly a question: The Cirrus with the BRS chute still manages to be involved in many accidents. Cirrus promotes the chute heavily, Columbia/Cessna promotes an intense learning program including unusual attitude training. Does anyone have data regarding Cessna/Columbia 400 accidents vs. SR22? I mostly hear about SR22 wrecks. Ercoupe was supposedly the safest airplane ever built, but people have still managed to kill themselves with them. My question: Do you think Ercoupes, and now Cirrus' attract a clientele that is not as comfortable flying, or perhaps has degraded skills because of their safety features? Someone that wouldn't step up to a plane of that performance due to lack of confidence or skill telling themselves "hey, it has a BRS chute, if things go haywire I can always pull that"? Perhaps people scared themselves in Aeronca Champs and said "screw it, I can fly an Ercoupe - impossible to spin and no tricky rudders". Do you think these "safe" airplanes attract a least common denominator of pilot?