Originally Posted by
mary meagher
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.
Absolutely the skill deficit that led to this accident needs to be addressed but the bottom line is clear. Not having the option of pulling the chute meant that this could vary well have ended like so many other unintentional entry into IMC tragedies, a total loss of control leading to a VNE spiral dive and inflight break up.
GA does not need any more dead pilots !
If a chute saves the life of some guy
and his family who Facked Up in a major way I say GOOD !
The bigger question IMO is why is the flight training industry not doing a better job at preparing pilots to prevent the purely pilot caused accidents , like carb ice or fuel exhaustion caused engine failures, or the constant drip drip drip of reports of aircraft that run off the end of the runway/wheel barrow/ lose directional control in 5 kt crosswinds etc etc.....