Diamond DA40 Parachute Mode...

Would I try it? I think those 48 kts (almost 90 km/hour) can hurt you real bad if you are landing on anything containing obstacles. The reason I'm flying a twin is because I fly in an area where you mostly are VFR on top at 6k feet or so. Below you are mountains embedded in clouds.

PS! I read somewhere that the Velocity had a similar feature except that it was imposible to get out of the situation if first entered. I think they did a fix to avoid it.

AN-2 and Socata Rallye can safely do that. In case of AN-2, this was explicitly written in the early versions of the POH. The aircraft is going to sustain some damage, but will most likely be repairable.

Well I think that most any light GA aircraft will do this, though some may have trouble wit the hands off part, not all can be trimmed that far nose up and all C of G's. However, I sure would not want to hit the ground that way! I would rather flare and make any kind of effort to dissipate more energy before hitting.

Remember this rule: Chances of survival are inversely proportional to angle of arrival.

Yes, speed at contact plays a role in survivability, but angle much more so. If you arrive at the perfect flare altitude at the "bottom of the bucket" speed (the 48 knts stated), you will have zero reserve energy with which to flare, and further arrest your rate of descent - it's going to be ugly. Sure you can practice that maneuver at altitude, but it has little meaning until you try to flare. So, while you're "parachuting" the DA-40 down, and everything is stable, watch the VSI, and then try to flare. It will stall right away, and your rate of descent will slightly increase (that's the way you're going to hit the ground). A friend of mine did this in a PA28-235, with no choice. He lived, but it was ugly.

I would ONLY consider this if it were a certainty that I would not see the surface before I hit it. Otherwise, I would rather have a whole bunch of reserve inertia with which to maneuver and flare at the end.

This was a factor when I did training with STOL kit modified aircraft. Yes, they will glide at a slower airspeed, but the rate of descent is about the same, and when you go to flare, instant stall, and no change in descent rate. You only have to arrive at earth that way once to remember forever!

Read up on helicopter autorotation, and consider it the same way. Yes, you can autorotate with less than minimum rotor RPM, but when you go to flare, you're going to continue right on through, as the rotor bleeds off the remainder of the inadequate reserve RPM, with no affect.

The aircraft can be trimmed full nose up, engine set to idle and it will descend at 600-1200 feet per minute at 48 kn (89 km/h) hands-off, a lower rate of descent than the competitive Cirrus SR22 can achieve with its airframe ballistic parachute deployed.

That is surely disingenuous, because the SR22 will have zero forward speed.

My TB20 will do ~ 1000fpm at perhaps about 55-60kt

Unless I am missing something, I don't think this is useful. If you hit something totally solid at 48kt you will kill everybody aboard.

Yes, personally, and perhaps without the benefit of type familiarity, I have always had a very nervous feeling about riding down under a 'chute, in an aircraft I have just decided to no longer fly. It's that striking something hard - at any speed - which makes me uneasy. I would always rather have the control, and reserve of energy to either steer around it, or at least minimize the impact.

So, we must remind ourselves that if we are gliding down, we are (I suspect) planning on a power off landing. Ideally, it is necessary to change the direction of motion of the aircraft from that of forward and down, to just forward, for a brief distance, within which, we will contact the earth, ever so gently. Simply, "down" to "no longer down" requires acceleration, which equals G. If you're going to pull G without power, you'd better have some energy in reserve to bleed off while you do it. I'm not good at this math, that's for someone else, this is just the concept.

If you're gliding at the slowest forward speed, you're carrying the least reserve energy. ANYTHING you do which consumes more energy will quickly cause you to stall, and you're going down again/still.

So, to practice this, go and do it at very safe altitude, and watch the VSI, as you try a practice flare, and practice your stall recovery as you watch your VSI!

I was reminded by a super-experienced pilot last weekend to "never be less than a minute from impact"... or in other words reduce your decent rate as height decreases. Apparently this was airline training & practice.

The discussion resulted from my surprise in needing 17 inches MP for a remarkable amount of time to arrest sink rate as I finished trimming off extra height on final.

I try to listen to people who have been there and done that a lot more than me!

(Edited to replace more with less in the quote above!)

In something of the opposite condition the OP presents, I was experimenting with the Teal (pictured to the right). It glides like the space shuttle. A bounced land landing can be managed. A bounced water landing [watering?] is bad, and really to be avoided at all cost. Thus my practice forced approaches onto the water have always erred to the fast, and "land wherever you want" approach. While doing circuits on the ice in the winter, I practiced land forced approaches right through to a landing.

It would glide at 70MPH, but had nothing to flare with, and I had to add lots of power to cushion an impending hard landing. I tried at 75MPH, better but still scary. At 80MPH glide it was more comfortable - once you get used to gliding at 80MPH (it reminded me of flying a C310). After my many practice approaches, and affirming the optimum technique, I read the Flight Manual - sure enough 80 MPH!

I had, on a 10 knot wind day, found that exact power setting at which I could, without changing power at all, fly in water effect, land, run along on the step, and takeoff again, and repeat as often as I wanted. It was 19"MP. I take this to be the zero degrees angle of arrival to earth. The speed was around 70 MPH the whole time, which I take to be the "bottom of the bucket" speed for for best endurance. It is very certainly not the ideal speed at which to glide, which I also proved to myself.

So, as no aircraft I fly support my bailing out, I plan to fly every aircraft back to the surface under control, and arriving to earth with the energy required to reduce the arrival angle to very near zero.

Well I think that most any light GA aircraft will do this, though some may have trouble wit the hands off part

I wouldn't try it with a PA38, I have to say.

Fly a Cirrus and pull the chute. Basically all chute pulls resulted in the pilots and passengers being able to get out alive. Don't go for the grass strip as you will have too much forward energy and will kill yourself. See this report.