Be it a chute pull or a forced landing the chances of fixing the aircraft are about the same.
A&C
I think not!!! get a forced landing right and there have been many where the pilots await alongside a perfectly undamaged aircraft for assistance with the only cost moving the aircraft out of the field. On some occasions the aircraft has been flown out!
Pull the chute and the aircraft is severely damaged every time no question about that!
Fuji
Just to answer the post you made that I have been converted to the chute.
I always considered it to be a major advancement in aircraft safety.
Where I have moved is from regarding the chute on the Cirrus as one an aerobatic pilot or glider pilot would carry ie to abandon an unflyable aircraft! to appreciating it can be used in other ways.
I would not use the chute over flat land where there were open fields even if it meant hitting a hedge or fence.
I would not use the chute in strong winds! Once the chute is pulled you have lost control! Not only do you have a high vertical speed but you will mix that with a horizontal speed. We all know the damage a 30mph crash will cause to a car. Remember the car is far better designed for crash protection than an aircraft.
Far better to use those winds to your favor in a forced landing and subsequent low groundspeeds at touchdown.
I would not use the chute over built up areas where I could glide clear. We have no control over where the aircraft descends and have a responsibility to those on the ground.
I would not use the chute below 1000 ft agl hence its important to commit to a forced landing or chute pull.
Panicking at 300 feet and pulling the chute will result in a free fall and instant death.
I would use the chute with engine failure over dense forest or mountainous terrain.
I would use the chute if unwell where I felt I may pass out!
I would use the chute at night with an engine failure or over fog banks and a cloudbase known to be very low.
I would use it for bad icing!
Here is an important point which many fail to acknowledge.
The Chuted cirrus will without doubt encourage pilots into conditions that they or the aircraft should not be in!
I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would be very nervous flying a single piston at night out of gliding distance of an airport!
The Cirrus would change that for me and I would be a lot more comfortable with that get out of jail card in the unlikely but possible case of an engine failure.
I am sure as in one accident report pilots who are not current or capable in cloud would fly there on the same principal as being more comfortable at night with the chute.
Over water I am not sure. The undercarriage is a major absorber of the vertical impact into water you loose that.
This is the first standard production aircraft to come with a chute installed which changes what is possible with a conventional aircraft.
There is little direction from the manufacturers which leaves when to pull the chute in the hands of often inexperienced pilots. That is a dangerous way to proceed and there should be far more expert and approved guidance!
But that explains why the subject generates so much debate.
My last point is it worries me when technology is used to make up for a lack of basic skills rather than complimenting those basic skills.
There have been some accidents and chute pulls where you do question if the guy at the controls is a competent well trained pilot or some incompetent half baked idiot flying the aircraft.