Why has the SR22 been such a success?

Flyer59 wrote:

Tell that to the 107 occupants of Cirrus airplanes who survived accidents who would all have been deadly in a Columbia.

Hmm. I would not argue that CAPS won’t work (what is obviously does because it is an integrated and tested system), but is the reversal of the savings statement really true? How many of those occupants really did not have any chance without the chute and how many of the chute pulls could have been unnecessary and was executed because of the (totally correct!) “Pull fast, pull often” Mantra? Given the way aviation works, I think one can safely assume that a fraction of the chute pulls would have been one of several possibilities the aircraft could be saved. This was demonstrated by the incident where the chute did not deploy correctly, and the pilot managed to land the aircraft anyway.

Liferafts, lifeboats, life jackets, air bags in cars, defibrillators, antibiotics .. .. ..

worth nothing, unless you need them :-), then you would pay anything.

No, Peter – that’s not right. And even if a case was theoretically “landable” a landing by CAPS is much safer, and that is why CAPS is recommended in the case of engine failure.

Here are the first 15 CAPS events. One was complete stupidy (#10) when the passneger activated CAPS without even asking the pilot ;-) , and #15 was maybe surviavable without CAPS.

And most of the other ones (53 to date) were similar. Most would have resulted in fatal accidents, IMHO.

CAPS event #1, 1 uninjured, VFR departure after maintenance, aileron unhinged due maintenance error

CAPS event #2, April 2004, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (CAPS Save #2)
4 uninjured; Factors: VFR night cruise, loss of control, autopilot-induced stall, night VFR over mountains,

CAPS event #3, April 2004, Fort Lauderdale, FL (CAPS Save #3)
1 uninjured; Factors: confusing instrument behavior, low IMC, departure climb, water in static system;

CAPS event #4, Sept 2004, Peters, CA (CAPS Save #4)
2 uninjured; Factors: VFR climb, autopilot-induced stall, rolled inverted, attempted recovery;

CAPS event #5, Feb 2005, Norden, CA (not CAPS Save, parachute separated from airframe)
1 fatality; Factors: severe icing at 16,000’ over Sierra mountains, high speed descent well above Vne of 204 knots;

CAPS event #6, June 2005, Haverstraw, NY (CAPS Save #5)
1 serious injury; Factors: pilot incapacitated from brain seizure, loss of conciousness, awoke and recovered from Vne dive, determined numbness and loss of function in legs;

CAPS event #, Jan 2006, Childersburg, AL (CAPS Save #6)
3 uninjured; Factors: severe icing at 9,000 feet, loss of control;

CAPS event #8, Feb 2006, Wagner, SD (CAPS Save #7)
2 uninjured; Factors: pilot disorientation in clouds, shortly after takeoff;

CAPS event #9, Aug 2006, Indianapolis, IN (CAPS Save #8, parachute observed not fully deployed)
1 fatality, 3 serious injuries; Factors: IMC, loss of control, stall/spin descent; Activation: low altitude; 528 feet AGL in 100 knot spin (3-1/2 turns) just 4 seconds prior to impact,

CAPS event #10, Sept 2006, Bull Bay, Jamaica (CAPS Save #9)
4 uninjured; Factors: loss of control, VFR cruise, passenger activated when fuel streaming from tank filler openings;

CAPS activation #11, Feb 2007, Sydney, Australia (not CAPS Save; parachute not extracted due to anomalous rocket trajectory)
2 injuries; Factors: VFR cruise, engine problems, rocket took unusual trajectory, , successful emergency off-airport landing; Activation: low altitude; Weather: VMC; Landing: trees

CAPS event #12, Apr 2007, Luna, NM (CAPS Save #10)
1 injured; Factors: IMC cruise, climb to avoid weather, loss of airspeed indication, terrain warning in IMC; Activation: low altitude, inverted, 34 knots airspeed; Weather: IMC, icing;

CAPS event #13, Aug 2007, Nantucket, MA (CAPS Save #11)
2 injured; Factors: VFR in IMC during approach, parachute tangled with tower wires, 1 serious injury, 1 minor injury, 1 unborn child saved; Activation: low altitude; Weather: IMC;

CAPS event #13, Oct 2008, Spain (CAPS Save #12)
uninjured; Factors: IFR in IMC during approach, pilot reported turbulence and loss of control, parachute tangled with power line wires; Activation: low altitude; Weather: IMC;

CAPS event #15, Nov 2008, Turriaco, Italy (CAPS Save #13 )
1 seriously injured, 3 uninjured; Factors: fuel exhaustion and loss of engine power, parachute deployed at low altitude and late in the power-off glide scenario, approximately 400 feet above ground; Activation: low altitude; Weather: VMC; Landing: trees and grass

Peter wrote:

I would not be surprised if a bunch of people working in high rise buildings didn’t go out and bought one and keep it in their desk

Then you must be able to jump out in the first place. And be high enough.

I agree. If you don’t have it, you just have to manage in some other way. It has it’s value. For one, it’s hard to execute an emergency landing when you can’t see the terrain. Or it’s truly hostile. But that has mainly operational implications. It’s up to me whether I’ll fly in given conditions. And I can always opt to wear a chute. As long as I can bail from given type. I wouldn’t mind having it, because it gives me one more option, but I can’t put too much value into it, because there are SEP aeroplanes I want to fly that don’t have it (there are things Cirrus can’t do).

Cirrus eliminated the rudder/aileron interconnect in the G3 model which had a total of 700 improvements/changes vs the G2 model including the higher dihedral wing, 92 gallon fuel tank capacity, increased payload of 66lbs, higher landing gear (more prop clearance), composite propeller and 3 seat capacity in the back to give a 5 seat overall capacity.

These G3 aircraft have now fallen quite far down the depreciation curve and are extremely good value since the depreciation curve has flattened out a lot by this stage.

But maybe if none of the above can convince you, maybe this official data from the NTSB van …?

Cirrus fatal accident rate:
Past 36 months: 0.63
(In the past 12 months, there have been 6 accidents in approximately 950,000 flight hours for a rate of 0.63 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours.)

GA fleet: 1.05 / 100.000 hours,

Personal & Business flying: 2.38 / 100.000 hours

Explanation:
a 3-year average was used because, with a modest fleet size of 6,000 airplanes flying about 1,000,000 hours per year, the accident rate varies substantially with only a few accidents. By contrast, the GA fleet contains 200,000 airplanes flying about 20,000,000 hours per year, or about 35 times more aircraft flying about 20 times more hours.

@ Cirrus_Man

Cirrus eliminated the rudder/aileron interconnect in the G3 model which had a total of 700 improvements/changes vs the G2 model including the higher dihedral wing, 92 gallon fuel tank capacity, increased payload of 66lbs, higher landing gear (more prop clearance), composite propeller and 3 seat capacity in the back to give a 5 seat overall capacity.

I think that the G2 models after # 1663 (whichhave the later electrical system of the G3) are the best value. The flying qualities of a G2 and G3 are almost identical. The 11 Gallons more fuel are NICE though. But the G2’s are really much more affordable, … if you can find one.

The issue is not that some Cirrus chute deployments could have possibly landed safely. I am sure some of them could have but the much more important statistic is the number of fatal Cirrus accidents that could have been avoided if CAPS had been deployed. These were needless deaths and that is why the great work of Rick Beach and Tim Preusser (here in Europe) and COPA to get pilots to “train and think about CAPS” is so valuable.

It seems the message is getting through and Cirrus is now about twice as safe as the GA fleet and you have to remember that a typical Cirrus mission will be more risky than most GA flying since distances tend to be greater (weather fronts etc).

Flyer59 wrote:

landing by CAPS is much safer, and that is why CAPS is recommended in the case of engine failure

I would’ve thought there is an increased risk of spinal injury. And there are situations where you could have perfectly good runway available to you. I’ve landed in fields plenty of times, but then it depends on what you fly and how you fly.