Interesting, Valerio, i have never heard that. The older Cirrus test videos look different though, don’t you think?
Why did he open his door while still in the air? Is that from the POH?
Just watched this, wow. I also wondered about the orientation of the lines on deployment. Just as well he was day VFR. I cannot begin to imagine that at night. Another ferry guy was stating that he flies those trips with several back ups, including a manual pump, an electric pump and even an air pump he could manually use to pressurize the tank so fuel would transfer. Really should cover all options. Apparently there was another ditching, a Cessna, with four on board, round about the same time. They also got picked up safely..
Cirrus changed their mind/the POH a couple of times about the door. It really depends on where you will land. For a water landing like this ( i think, don’t have the POH here) both options are ok, door closed or open.
ByJohn Fiscus on Mon, Jan 26 2015 4:37 Reply
In reply to Andrew Niemyer Like (5)
This aircraft is ours. It is a new aircraft that was on the way to Australia.
We became aware of the issue a few hours ago and had been communicating via sat phone. The pilot, the mechanic, the Coast Guard, and I worked for hours to try to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be resolved.
Realizing that the situation would have him still about 150 miles out over the water when the fuel was gone, the decision was made to divert to the vicinity of a cruise ship. The pilot would maintain a safe distance from it and deploy the parachute.
The plan worked as intended and they had him out of the water in about 40 minutes. The pilot is safe and sound and will ride the cruise ship into port in Hawaii.
I realize there are a lot of questions that will be asked about this situation. I have a lot of them myself. Understand that we will not speculate when it comes to facts: we either have them or we don’t. Right now we don’t have many.
What I can tell you is that the pilot is safe and sound and the CAPS worked yet again.
Safe flying,
-John
Platinum CSIP, Chief Pilot of The Flight Academy www.theflightacademy.com, & CPPP Ground and Flight Instructor
I noticed the airframe seem to sink pretty fast and almost took the pilot with him when sitting in the raft on the wing.
It seems to me this was because of the parachute dragging which turned the aircraft over.
that’s a great news report by ABC – thanks!
I’ve never seen a pilot MORE COOL than him!
MAybe Charles Lindbergh. When he was asked before Take-off why he had only 6 sandwiches for his flight across the Atlantic he said: “If I’m in Paris tomorrow, I don’t need more than that. If I’m not in Paris tomorrow, I don’t need more either.”
If the GA industry was actually functional, every plane would have BRS.Quote
Happily, I know that could never happen, so I’m okay. In this situation, the BRS was a definite safety benefit, and would have been many times more so, had that occurred IMC or at night. If light GA aircraft are regularly flown over very rough ocean, with unapproved ferry fuel systems, BRS is a good idea for those aircraft. Further to that, if BRS makes a responsible, risk adverse pilot feel more assured, and they are entirely content with the cost, and reduced capability of the aircraft, then certainly, it’s a market driven industry, and that’s how it should be.
Personally (knowing that I have no intention of rough ocean crossing in single GA aircraft), BRS does not interest me in the least. Even Cessna’s airbag seat belt (which I have tired at Cessna) does not interest me, simply because of the out of proportion cost, and deduced utility of the aircraft for little benefit. I have never wished for a parachute while flying an aircraft (which includes when I was required to wear one). In some cases, some safety gizmos being sold to aircraft are presented as “gotta haves”, but to me it’s largely good marketing.
But, as I have said, this time it was very value added for that pilot!
