The Cirrus pilot who pulled his chute quite near Shenington Gliding Club no doubt saved his bacon, but one certainly has to question his competence. His emergency was entirely self-generated, caused by programming in a 180 degree turn when encountering a bit of IMC, and forgetting to make sure his Cirrus stayed right side up.
I know when I would have been quite happy to have a ballistic recovery chute installed on my light aircraft, and that was in SEP at night....love flying at night over the US of A, such pretty lights, but it does make selecting a suitable field just a tad dodgy.....
Most of us can't afford this sort of equipment, and the craft I usually fly never suffers engine trouble, not having any. So we are quite at ease selecting suitable fields...
How does the Cirrus do, I wonder, when the chute is pulled over open water?