While a small
percentage of Cirrus pilots may be able to successfully recover from an inadvertent spin, Cirrus
contends that the far larger portion of pilots would not do so in a surprise departure spin situation.
Cirrus has accordingly concluded, as a result of the further extensive flight test conducted pursuant
to the JAA Study Group direction in April 2000, that in an inadvertent spin entry, time and altitude
is too critical to allow for any pilot reaction except the simple and quick process of reaching for
the CAPS handle and activating the system. Cirrus believes it is better to accept some airframe
losses through CAPS activation when the airplane could have been flown away following a
successful recovery, in order to save the lives of the far larger number of pilots who would not be
able to successfully execute a spin recovery.
http://www.peter2000.co.uk/aviation/...spinreport.pdf