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Cirrus BRS / chute discussion, and would you REALLY pull it?

What kind of airplane is it?

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Don’t know

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

This SR22 BRS activation has just popped up online


It is unusual to see this. It was apparently activated around 300ft AGL following an engine failure.

A good result considering the low height.

The car didn’t do so well…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

This SR22 BRS activation has just popped up online

That’s really an amazing video. It would be interesting to know how violent, or not violent, that chain of events seemed from the cabin.

How long to get the Cirrus airborne again? Talented friends of mine, about 50 levels of skill above my own, just did a gear up landing in their composite plane, then rebuilt it in a few weeks, structural, engine and propeller repairs included. The objective was to get it to the Reno Air Races for the first time. They made it, eventually finishing fourth in class.

(Do Cirrus and the insurance company really scrap the whole plane?)

According to COPA about a dozen planes have been repaired and are flying again.

always learning
LO__, Austria

As I wrote here previously… not sure I would want the avionics from those cockpits

The problem with aviation is that if you bench test something and it works IAW the test spec, it is tagged Serviceable and is “perfect”. In reality is could be junk, with intermittent faults…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Same goes for bench testing the structure.
I would not want a repaired chuter but that’s just a feeling nothing scientific from my part.

always learning
LO__, Austria

The Reno racing Glasair I mentioned above was rebuilt from an insurance company wreck this year, then landed gear up in development flying and was repaired again afterward. Today it’s flawless, beautiful and flies somewhere between 375 and 400 statute mph flat out, with 6 g turns. A lot depends on who does the engineering for the repairs and who does the work itself. Composite structural repairs can be done in a way that is equivalent to the original, and invisible – but the techniques are a particular technology.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 17 Nov 15:36

Wise words from Silvaire on composite repair, those who know the business can restor the original structural integrity with a repair that is impossible to see.

As for the avionic systems I have seen no problems with repaired aircraft and would offer the opinion that shipping by one of the major parcel companies is the most severe mechanical test that an avionic box will encounter .

Would you pull the chute?

Yesterday, while having diner together with friends, we talked about my emergency last year. One of the group is a 30 years skilled pilot flying a SR22 for years now and he told me, that in the same situation, even if the runway is in reachable distance, he would have pulled the chute, because of

  • being drilled by Cirrus that the first reaction in case of emergency is to pull.
  • the insurance would only pay, if in case of emergency the chute is pulled, they wouldn‘t pay if he would have tried the landing, as I did, and something went wrong and leads to a crash.
    So there is no thinking about the best option, it‘s always pull. For me this sounds awful. Because I think to land the aircraft save without damage compared to land uncontrolled somewhere on the chute is the much better choice for every involved party, if it is possible.

In my opinion it should be a decision based on circumstances, not based on insurance related or company (Cirrus) forced guidelines.

So i.e. in the situation of @lenthamen, flying a Cirrus I would pull immediately, although he made it in real life with his perfect skills save on ground in his Cessna at that time. Assuming he would have flown in a Cirrus at this time, regarding the circumstances he has described, the chute would have been the better option for me. But in my situation in Zürich assuming also to fly the Cirrus, I would try to glide back to the runway as I did with the Bonanza.

As there are many Cirrus pilots in this forum, what are your opinions and strategies to decide to pull or to glide?

EDDS , Germany
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