SR22 down near Bruges, (BE) - BRS saved the day
 

An SR22 piloted by a Pprune member, enroute from Germany to the UK approaching COSTA VOR (Belgium) at FL100, got in trouble ("lost the propellor" ??), headed inland (most likely for Ostend EBOS), but ended up pulling the BRS when approaching the city of Bruges. Both pilot and airplane (more or less) look in pretty good shape after the event.
https://www.hln.be/brugge/john-72-ma...aind~a5d47a8c/ (in dutch - main article behind paywall, but we all can see that he avoided schools and hospitals)
https://www.hln.be/damme/sportvliegt...hute~a1635e49/

I presume the pilot one day will share some firsthand insights.

Second BRS "landing" near Bruges in a year (or two)

Well, there’s a distinct lack of propellor on the plane after the landing, as seen on the linked picture.

Are there any know instances of a Cirrus being restored to airworthiness after a BRS descent ?

I haven’t seen any, but from the BRS website:
Q. How much damage will be done to my plane if I land it with a parachute?
A. In all likelihood the aircraft will suffer some significant damage. The terrain where you land will affect this greatly. Though the extent of damage has varied from plane to plane, most GA aircraft that have come down under a BRS deployment have eventually (or will soon) fly again.

https://brsaerospace.com/questions/

Firsthand account here on Flyer forums: https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=122521

On a Cirrus you're sacrificing the undercarriage as that is what cushions the impact and the straps are pulled through some bits of composite structure. I'm sure it could be repaired to fly again but the question is whether that's economically viable.

I understand shortening quotes, but now you are saying I said it would be economically viable, and it was from the BRS website. Not the same.

It was me. I was flying from Monchengladbach to Cambridge yesterday. I felt a strong vibration and asked to divert to Ostend. Just after turning on course there was a bang and the prop departed the aircraft.

I called Mayday, descended from 10000 feet to 3000, found a field and pulled CAPS. The system and the training worked exactly as advertised and I am entirely unhurt.

Glad you made it unhurt.
Has the propeller been removed recently?

No but just had a new magneto installed

'Glad you're okay Jonzarno! A credit to the BRS system. When you hear, will you come back, and tell us why the prop departed? Broken crankshaft perhaps?

They flew to Bruges! I wonder if this will make it into Private Eye? :)

Yes, I will post the investigation results when they come out but it will be some time. They also first have to find the prop!

Very glad to hear you are safe and well :ok:

Never flown with BRS, and no idea what I would have done. If you don't mind: Did you consider an off-airport landing, or where you pretty sure from the start you were going to pull the chute? Thanks for coming on here and responding to the other questions!

edit: just read your account on the above link. Sounds like you made the right choice.

When the vibration started, I declared a PAN PAN PAN and asked for a diversion to Ostend. When the prop detached it was an immediate decision to use CAPS. As I was at FL100 when it happened, I had lots of time to find the right place to pull as I descended. Eventually I pulled at about 3000 ft.

As a side note: the field I landed in looked quite flat from the air. After the aircraft came down and I got out, it became very clear that it was anything but and also had a wire fence I hadn't seen. If I had tried to land on it, I would definitely have ended up inverted with about 250 litres of Avgas for company.

actually in a 4months+1day period (memory isn't what it used to be). One would start to think that there is a link between BRugeS and BRS....:)

@Jonzarno good to see it was another landing you walked away from :ok:

Thanks Jonzarno for sharing this experience, and glad for you came out unhurt. I read your full account on the FLYER Forum, you mention a few times training on simulator, and also this sentence:
It is the training how to use it part that I am worried about : In 2 of the Flying clubs, I belong we have Ultra lights with BRS and . when there is no wind, I regularly fly one of them for fun. . Training on the BRS consisted in both clubs, in reding a small 4-5 pages leaflet and then signing a form that you had read and understood it. Most of the text referred to the dangers of its pyrotechnics, but not really on how to use it in an emergency.

If you have the time , could you tell us what you learn in the sim that helped you ? . Most aeroclubs do not have ( easy) access to simulators .

Mostly it's the procedure and muscle memory that goes with it. It's one thing to "read the manual" and another to actually feel what it's like in the SIM when something bad is simulated.

I was "lucky" in the sense that my incident happened at 10,000 ft so I had lots of time ti "wind my watch" and decide how best to implement the procedure. The decision that it was going to be a CAPS pull was obvious and instant, but the actual emergency lasted almost somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes as I glided down looking for a safe place to pull.

I hope this helps but happy to talk it through if that would be useful.

Thank you , perhaps one day you could make a PowerPoint based on your experience, which is rather exceptional, on the do and don'ts of pully a Ballistic parachute.
Of course having the emergency at FL100 helps a lot . For me . also as a glider pilot, I had always the idea that I would use it after a collision rather than an engine ( of prop) failure . In fact in my both clubs which are joint gliders/ powered Aircraft clubs , many bar discussion on using of BRS or attempting a landing in a field in case of engine failure generally ends in a 50-50% division. Most of us glider pilots would prefer to attempt a field landing rather than to use the BRS.

For ,me . having few thousand hours on gliders , I would indeed prefer to attempt an out of field landing , because this is what I have been trained to do, and knows the rules. and am in control until the end. .But the reality is you probably do not know until you are in that emergency.and what kind of terrain , or water, is below you when it happens.
A final note on one of your remarks about obstacles you did not see. You pulled at 3000 ft . at this altitude you cannot see the features and the obstacles of a field ,, the critical ones ( Electric wires, fences, ground slope, state of the field , etc..) are only really visible below 1000 Ft. .
Also, as you know, the surface wind ( direction-intensity) can be very different from wind at 3000 ft , and then the size of the field becomes important,, but also in pulling the BRS at 3000ft, how could you be sure to land in the field you wanted ? no wind at all that day ?

Before your story , If I had ever to use the BRS I would have said I would wait until 1000ft to have more chances to make the area I wanted, . Any reason why you choose 3000 ? In any case, seen the outcome, it was a good decision too ! :)

Gliders are designed to land in fields, tricycle gear aircraft aren’t. Also gliders by their nature don’t carry fuel.

​​​​​​​If I had tried to land I would definitely have ended up inverted with 250 litres of avgas for company.