October 2008 - Pull early, pull often!
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News reports from the recent Cirrus accident in Zurich, Switzerland, highlight the hazards and potential for delay when first responders arrive at a Cirrus accident. In this accident, the CAPS parachute had not deployed while the cockpit was severely...
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Four seconds before impact, the passenger in N91MB pulled the CAPS handle and three people survived although the pilot perished. Four seconds earlier and maybe all would have survived! The NTSB investigators reconstructed the flight profile of N91MB and...
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On Saturday, the three people walked away from a Cirrus SR22 that had been in a spin close to the ground. CAPS worked. According to press reports and quotes from the pilot, the plane was descending on approach to a nearby airport when turbulence contributed...
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The public release of the NSTB probable cause report on the Indianapolis, IN, fatal accident caught a lot of COPA members by surprise. Intense discussion on the COPA forum in the thread "Autopilot induced stall" explored many aspects of this...
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As of Sept 30, 2008: Fatal accidents 41 fatal accidents 82 fatalities 10 survivors (all seriously injured) Fatal accident rate: 1.42 fatal accidents per 100,000 year-to-date 1.76 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours in past 12 months 1.54 fatal accidents...
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How did a newbie pilot become so passionate about safety and Cirrus accidents? When I picked up my SR22 in 2001 as a VFR-only pilot with just 65 hours total-time, I was fascinated by the human factors of operating such a technologically advanced aircraft...
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Pull Early, Pull Often! That's the phrase that I posted for the first time on March 31, 2006. I encouraged Cirrus pilots to consider using the airframe parachute system, CAPS, earlier in the accident chain and more often in difficult situations. Every...