PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Cirrus Chute Pull, 4 Survive landing in trees, 22/07/12
Old 25th Jul 2012, 19:22
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007helicopter
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
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If we all spent our lives crossing the Pyrenees (as I have done today) and little else then I am sure our attitudes to the chute would be different, but on the whole flight from Barcelona I would say I had easy and very obvious forced landing options 99% of the time except over the mountains, and about 90% of the time over the mountains which were crossed in the middle.
I do not know the landing ability of a TB20 in fields, I assume it has happened a reasonable amount of times with good and bad outcomes.

A Cirrus is probably worse than most GA aircraft due to the small wheels and higher than average landing speed.

In terms of when I am flying a Cirrus I have a pre determined decision already made that it is not an option I will take however good the field looks. Whatever happens in the event of an off airport landing required it will be at 17 knots vertically for better or worse.

I believe the risk of cart wheeling in rough fields, hitting rocks, ditches, crops, wires, animals, pot holes, ploughed fields, coming up short etc etc is to high a risk for me and passengers when a better option exists. A lot of these are not obvious at 1000ft plus.
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