Plane with a parachute?

[Mike W.]

A bit OT, but we've talked about planes much in the past. But there was a story in the paper this AM about a plane with engine failure parachuting down. Plane was totaled, but the people weren't. I've never heard of such a thing, but apparently it exists.

https://mendofever.com/2024/03/10/santa ... te-system/

[turbodan]

Cirrus makes a few planes with those. Most common seems to be the SR22. It's a pretty cool implementation of what seems like a cartoonish concept. It offers a great alternative to a traditional plane crash.

I do recall one incident that occurred where the pilot ended up in a dive and couldn't recover. Pulled the chute but the aerodynamic forces were too great, it was simply ripped from the airframe. Many deployments have been successful though, saved a lot of lives.

[Shawn D.]

Yep, it's a Cirrus.

All parachutes have a maximum opening speed, and it's not surprising that one ripped from that particular Cirrus, as it wasn't intended for use in that flight situation. Having one that could be used in all flight envelopes would have caused disproportionate weight penalty for only an increase in usability in edge cases.

[e28Sean]

Yup... It's a thing. CAPS. Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. It's available on most, if not all, of their small airplanes, including the SF50 Vision Jet

[Blue Shadow]

Heard about this a couple decades ago. And since it is a thing, already reported when new, it took until someone needed to deploy the system for it to make the news again.

[stuartinmn]

Besides Cirrus, I think you can also get a parachute kit that can be installed in other brands of airplanes.

[Mike W.]

Not surprised some of you guys know about it, but I follow planes more than most, but not all that much, and I was dumbfounded. I don't know that the accident rate is high, but I can see being slightly nervous about single engine planes and no backup. One reason I guess why FAA is so particular about repairs and maintenance.

[kojo96]

I rode in one of these in 2016, Oakland to Miami with a couple of fuel stops along the way. Felt safe enough and I got to see the parachute release lever. The temptation to pull it was high...

[dsw99a]

that is hilariously horrific