In Air Near Miss Causes Crash

[airboatr]

http://www.break.com/index/in-air-near- ... crash.html

now thats close

[Garry Russell]

Hi Joe

I remember this from some time ago.......he deployed the aircraft's parachute and it came down with little damge

Garry

[airboatr]

figures

I remember the 22 flat spin after stalling then crashing in field

[Chris Trott]

I remember this from some time ago.......he deployed the aircraft's parachute and it came down with little damge

Unfortunately, the problem is that the plane is probably still a write off.

Little known item - on the Cirrus (which pioneered this item on certified aircraft), if the BRS (Ballistic Recovery System) is used, the airframe is a write off. The activation of the chute unfortunately does some significant damage in the structure of the aircraft and the landing impact often breaks the backbone of the aircraft. Owners are briefed on this extensively, but unfortunately, too many Cirrus have been written off because they pulled the chute instead of using good airmanship to get them out of a situation that was definitely "saveable".

[Garry Russell]

Hi Chris

By little damage I mean just that and the pilot was uninjured as a result...........compare that with litle bits scattered across the field.

I was not makinging any claims to wheather or not the airframe was repairable that is something else

Some cars get written off in minor crashes due to structual damage but keeping the impact light enough to walk away from is what's important.

Garry

[Chris Trott]

Garry, I knew what you were talking about. I was just speaking to the fact that sadly the plane probably still won't be repairable. It's one of the unfortunate things about the BRS. It's kinda become a "pet peeve" of mine that people tend to pull the 'chute in situations that without it, they would've still been survivable, and any half-decent pilot would have probably made a relatively normal forced landing with, but instead, they total an airplane and sometimes come out worse for wear because of it.

I'll be clear - I'd like more information about the accident for the reason that looking at the damage, was there just no where to make a forced landing or was there more damage that we can't see that made the plane unflyable? The initial pitch-up is due to the problem, but when he pulls the chute, I'm not sure he was in an unrecoverable position and being a Kit Fox or similar Light Sport, I would wonder if he wouldn't have been better (and honestly safer) to fly it to landing instead of parachuting.

The only reason his landing was as soft as it was is because he hit that awning structure that further lightened the landing. A landing on solid earth is quite stiff and has been known to result in broken bones and compressed spines. One must remember that the point of the BRS is to make the landing survivable - this does not mean you won't still get hurt. It's something I stress at work with our fall protection equipment. It's the same deal - it keeps you alive, but it'll still hurt because you'll almost certainly break a rib or two when you come to that abrupt halt at the end of the safety strap.