I just read an article about an in-air collision that happened in Denver this morning. It stated that the CR22 and a Fairchield Metroliner collided on approach. The Metroliner landed safely with major tail damage and the articel says the pilot of the CR22 deployed a parachute that brought the CR22 to the ground with no injuries to the pilot and passenger. I never heard of such a system.

Here is the article: 2 small airplanes collide midair above Denver, no one injured, authorities say | Fox News

Yup

I believe an addon in Xplane even models the system

7 minutes ago, Mikeingreen said:

I just read an article about an in-air collision that happened in Denver this morning. It stated that the CR22 and a Fairchield Metroliner collided on approach. The Metroliner landed safely with major tail damage and the articel says the pilot of the CR22 deployed a parachute that brought the CR22 to the ground with no injuries to the pilot and passenger. I never heard of such a system.

Here is the article: 2 small airplanes collide midair above Denver, no one injured, authorities say | Fox News

Yes, Cirrus calls it CAPS.

But similar systems exist in ultra lights.

5 minutes ago, MarioDonick said:

Yes, Cirrus calls it CAPS.

But similar systems exist in ultra lights.

You can learn something every day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_Airframe_Parachute_System

15 minutes ago, Mikeingreen said:

I never heard of such a system.

Ballistic recovery chutes are becoming more common, although it was Cirrus which popularised it on GA aeroplanes. They are generally pretty successful at saving lives, with well over one hundred occasions where that has occurred, although sometimes it has not resulted in saving the aeroplane, however, most of unsuccessful deployments were when the system was triggered outside its envelope where success is guaranteed (within certain speed and altitude parameters). Interestingly, out of the one hundred or so successful deployments, about twenty percent of the airframes involved were subsequently repaired and flew again.

One of the interesting things about such ballistic recovery systems, is that you can have them on ultralight aeroplanes too (such as the Top Rudder 103 Solo), and although the system takes that ultralight above the weight limit for an ultralight to qualify for 103 exemption from licensing requirements for the plane and its pilot, it does nevertheless still qualify for that exemption because it is classed as a safety device.

With regard to the Metroliner and its damage. I suspect the fact that the aeroplane was on final approach and so not going very fast contributed to it staying in one piece, since there would be considerably less downforce exerted by the tailplane at approach speed than in cruise. At cruise speed it might have been a different story. Whatever the truth of it, it is a testament to the strength of the airframe. The picture of this particular Metroliner reminded me of those images you see of B-17 Flying Fortresses with catastrophic-looking flak or collision damage which still nevertheless managed to return to base in spite of massive  airframe damage.

What is a cool aspect of this incident, is the young pilot of another aeroplane in the circuit at the time who was allegedly on his first solo flight, yet he managed to convey useful information to the emergency services with regard to where the Cirrus had come down. That was some remarkable airmanship from that young man.

That system would have saved my Wife's cousins life a few years ago. He owned the Boulder Airport services and was selling a Piper Meridian but wanted some pics of it against the Flatrocks before they took delivery. They had a photographer in a chase plain and somebody zigged when they should have zagged and took the tail off of the Meridian. The chase plane landed safely with some wing damage. Sad story.

2 hours ago, Mikeingreen said:

That system would have saved my Wife's cousins life a few years ago. He owned the Boulder Airport services and was selling a Piper Meridian but wanted some pics of it against the Flatrocks before they took delivery. They had a photographer in a chase plain and somebody zigged when they should have zagged and took the tail off of the Meridian. The chase plane landed safely with some wing damage. Sad story.

Yup, very sad. I think most of us who have been around aeroplanes for years have similar tales to that one; I knew all three people killed on board two aeroplanes which collided in the circuit at Camphill Derbyshire. I'm not sure they'd have had time for a BRS to save them, since they were all wearing chutes and it was too low down for those to help, but you never know, such a system where you don't have to get clear of the aeroplane might have helped.

Personally, I always regard the parachute as an expensive cushion whenever I wear one; I'm not convinced you'd always have time to get out and the thing open if disaster struck, whereas banging the BRS lever in a Cirrus only takes a second. I always do drill myself on the canopy release levers so I'm familiar with the movement, but I must admit, I suspect I'd fumble the harness a bit by wanting to make sure it was that and not the 'chute I was unfastening!

Edited May 13, 20215 yr by Chock

4 hours ago, Chock said:

although sometimes it has not resulted in saving the aeroplane

Which is no problem (not that you said it was). Once the engine quits or something else happens where the plane isn't going to make it to a runway, it's a good practice to consider it the property of the insurance company at that point and do whatever is needed to walk away from the incident. 

Some theorize that the parachute can lead to unnecessary damage, though, as a pilot might deploy the chute in a situation that would be survivable if they flew it down.

 

4 hours ago, Mikeingreen said:

I never heard of such a system.

 

You might be interested in this video shot by a coast guard helicopter of a SR22 near Hawaii. A fuel system issue caused the engine to fail and the pilot popped the chute. Amazing footage.

 

5 hours ago, Mikeingreen said:

I just read an article about an in-air collision that happened in Denver this morning. It stated that the CR22 and a Fairchield Metroliner collided on approach. The Metroliner landed safely with major tail damage and the articel says the pilot of the CR22 deployed a parachute that brought the CR22 to the ground with no injuries to the pilot and passenger. I never heard of such a system.

Here is the article: 2 small airplanes collide midair above Denver, no one injured, authorities say | Fox News

Yes and it's not only airplane that can be equipped with ballistic parachute system

https://brsaerospace.com/

6 hours ago, Mikeingreen said:

I just read an article about an in-air collision that happened in Denver this morning. It stated that the CR22 and a Fairchield Metroliner collided on approach. The Metroliner landed safely with major tail damage and the articel says the pilot of the CR22 deployed a parachute that brought the CR22 to the ground with no injuries to the pilot and passenger. I never heard of such a system.

Here is the article: 2 small airplanes collide midair above Denver, no one injured, authorities say | Fox News

It is/was a Cirrus SR-22 that overshot its approach to parallel runway final, colliding with the Metroliner (turbo prop). They were both cleared to land. The BRS parachute is installed on all Cirri from the factory. It also is installed on other aircraft. The details of the accident and video of the chute deployed are here:

 

 http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/05/cirrus-sr22-gts-g5-carbon-n416dj-and.html

The Cirrus was reportedly traveling around 160 kts on base. If that’s true, that would definitely explain the overshoot of final.

One of my school’s C172s is equipped with a BRS chute. Honestly, it would be hard for me to pull the chute for anything other than a major event like a structural or major control failure. 

Edited May 13, 20215 yr by snglecoil

32 minutes ago, snglecoil said:

The Cirrus was reportedly traveling around 160 kts on base. If that’s true, that would definitely explain the overshoot of final.

One of my school’s C172s is equipped with a BRS chute. Honestly, it would be hard for me to pull the chute for anything other than a major event like a structural or major control failure. 

Yean, there is sort of a narrow window between situations where you may be better just bringing it in yourself  (such as gear failure) and situations where it probably will not help (inverted spin may be one of them, loss of control in a thunderstorm is another) but, within that window where it is is useful and works, it clearly saves lives.

Edited May 13, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

One fun (or not so) facts about this system is that when originally put online, SR22 pilot's would tend to fly more risky and make it too late to deployed the parachute for recovery (it costs, you know... even if it works perfectly, your aircraft is doomed). That put fatal statistics even higher in the early days.

Then Cirrus changed the policy of using the parachute to basically "When in doubt, Deploy it." and that works.