6. The rest of the time I am going to take a long hard look not only at what I see out of the cockpit window but what I feel in my heart. I am going to set to one side how good a pilot I think I am and then try and assess whether I really believe I can pull off a perfect forced landing. I am going to remind myself if I get it wrong in almost all conditions the impact is going to be worse than under the chute. Then I will make my final decision.
At the end of the day that is ultimately all one can do...the chute is just there to give one another option, at what point to take that option should be left up to the pilot. It wouldn't be reasonable for Cirrus to start writing SOPs along the lines of "If field measures more than 2000ft x 5000ft consider conventional landing" or "do not pull chute over school"...every situation in which one might expect to consider the chute will be different and while Cirrus instructors will no doubt give guidance on different possible scenarios the ultimate choice is the pilot's.
Some pilots will inevitably reach different conclusions about what to do in a situation...this is because, in private flying at least, we can't "SOPise"
all our reactions beyond following basic drills for things like engine failures; we have to think and then act based on our perception of the situation; this is the same for decision making that has nothing to do with chutes...
Some pilots may tend to be more 'pro-chute' in a situation, which yes may mean surrendering control of a perfectly flyable aircraft if it is deemed that for some reason a safe conventional landing is unlikely, or on balance less likely than a chute assisted one.
I really think we are over thinking the whole "chute" thing on this thread...it's just a device that gives one another option in an emergency.
And as for the "moral hazard" arguments about risk taking they have been done to death on here and I don't see anything on this thread to add to that discussion...