From our "Why Didn’t I Think of That?" Department comes an idea so obvious (in retrospect) that it makes the wheel look like wild speculation.
Those clever lads (and/or lasses!) at Cirrus Aircraft have gone and made an airplane that is practically stupid proof.
Did you forget to top out your fuel tank? Did you fly into a snowstorm? Stall out? Got a busted hydraulic line? Don’t matter! Just pull a lever and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) floats you down to the ground like that feather on Forrest Gump. Well, the impact is more like jumping off a ten-foot ladder (according to the literature), but – hey – let’s not get picky.
The plane also has a composite body which makes it lighter, yet stronger, than traditional airframes. This plane is giving the long dominant Cessna some Cirrus competition (heh).
To be honest, though, no aircraft can be made absolutely stupid proof. Ditch over water and you might still be toast.
Just, you know… really soggy toast.
Safely find out more HERE.
This system is available for a number of aircraft (single engine)
Genius.
Couldn’t they outfit an airliner with 9 or 10 big parachutes?
Really, really cool. And I’ll take a jump off a 10ft ladder v. a freefall at terminal velocity to a messy death!
Really, really cool!
No more celebs getting killed in airplane crashes? Cool. But what will the tabloids do?
There are limits to this. Most accidents actually happen either on departure or (more frequently) on arrival. Bad weather, a difficult night IFR approach, and a tired pilot make situations like this risky. Alsas this parachute won’t help that kind of accident.
The safety idea is nice. But I have to say … there’s just something about a Cessna.
Didn’t one of the original test pilots die in a failed deploy too? That ruined it for me.
Hmmmm… that “test pilot” story sounds suspicious. Where’dja read that, Newsweek?
Their source was probably a “high ranking” official in Cessna’s PR dept. 😉
I believe they had the story on thier website for a while. I was taking some flying lessons at the time so I was reading like mad. My wife was convinced I would die, so most of the reading was about safety. The parachute idea caught my eye for that reason…hold on…
report here. Seems CAPS wasn’t available yet.
Hey, thanks for the link. Interesting read. A pilots license is like # 2 or 3 at the top of my “wish list”.