Engine Failure

[bjornhall]

At the moment I will take the predictable 3G any time.

Those "predictable 3G" might be expected when landing on a flat, unobstructed, suitably firm surface (provided the darned thing actually works, etc etc, see previous post). But once you pull the chute you no longer have any control over where you land. You could just as well end up in high trees, power lines, on a road 30 feet in front of a semi, snag a wing on an obstacle causing you to land upside down, end up in water, and so on. No 3G then.

Cirrus might have changed their sales pitch since then, but when that thing was introduced the chute was expected and intended to save you from certain death, not injury. In a situation that would otherwise lead to a destroyed plane and a dead pilot, the chute would result in a destroyed plane and an injured pilot. Whereas an even somewhat successful forced landing results in an uninjured pilot and a possibly undamaged and probably repairable plane.

In my view, suggesting a pilot would be so poor that they would not even be able to accomplish a forced landing on suitable terrain is setting the piloting standards way, way too low.

Even a pilot who only flies 20 hours per year needs to spend enough of those hours practicing to be reasonably certain they could pull it off. That is the message that should be given, rather than "an average low hours pilot is so lousy they shouldn't even try it, just pull the chute and pray".

One thing that could probably be emphasized more is the option to choose a landing site that provides a suitable rate of deceleration. Performing a real-life forced landing on a 1000 ft smooth grass surface without rolling off the far end at speed would be somewhat challenging for many, and pulling off the same on a 500 ft field would be downright tricky. But if that 500 ft field has high, standing crop or low young trees in it, providing for deceleration in maybe 50 - 100 ft, anybody could pull it off; just land anywhere in that field, even in the last 200 ft, and you should be fine shouldn't you? (genuine question, I have not heard this method described anywhere).