A good example if improper use are the majority of the Cirrus CAPS deployments...strongly suggesting that pilots have placed themselves in dangerous positions because of the equipment on board. The parachute then becomes a panic button, and is subsequently used under conditions when they ought not. A pilot that elects to fly in weather and loses control deploys a parachute or exits the airplane...he has pushed the "panic button." Unfortunately, he's also elected to make a parachute descent under conditions when one should never make a parachute jump...the parachute has lulled him into making two very bad decisions, either of which could easily be fatal, to say nothing of having abandoned an airplane over a populace which had no choice in his decision making process.
SNS3Guppy, you are quite forceful, yet eloquent, in your judgment of the Cirrus airframe parachute system. A friend pointed me to your expansive post a bit later in this thread and suggested that I might comment as I have become the
de facto accident historian for the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association.
Unfortunately, your logic is backwards.
Over 75% of all fatal accidents in general aviation are attributed to a pilot-related cause. That's the concern that I recommend we address, not the specious argument that the presence of the parachute is the cause or even a factor.
Fortunately, 12 pilots who have gotten into bad situations are alive because of the Cirrus parachute, also 15 additional passengers.
By my reckoning, about half of the Cirrus fatal accidents could have been survivable if the Cirrus parachute had been deployed. That's about 25 of 44 fatal accidents, double the number of Cirrus parachute deployments!
A Cirrus pilot who pulls the CAPS handle to deploy the parachute knows he is in a bad situation. He doesn't need you to remind him. Yet he has acted to use a last-option safety device for himself and any passengers on board.
Cheers
Rick