Cirrus SR20 deploys ballistic parachute near Banbury

[mary meagher]

If this is already in another thread, I couldn't find it....

The AAIB bulleting for 7/2011 reports on this N reg Cirrus, flown by a low-time pilot with no instrument qualifications, returning on a days excursion from Ireland to Turweston. Running into poor weather near Shenington Gliding Club, which had stood down flying to let the shower pass, the Cirrus pilot lost control trying to turn back to Turweston, found himself in an extreme nose down attitude, and pulled the chute. Which saved the life of himself and his passenger. But damaged the Cirrus SR20 beyond economic repair.

Any comments? the report makes interesting reading.

[The500man]

He was lucky that 'chute deployed at 52 kts above max demonstrated deployment speed. I wonder what would have happened had he not been flying a cirrus? It almost sounds as if he was always going to rely on the BRS over all else when the report says he didn't know what some of the AP settings were for but made sure he knew how the BRS worked.

[Pace]

That brings into question the arguement of whether having a chute doesnt encourage Cirrus pilots to fly in conditions they wouldnt contemplate if there was no chute? Ie in bad weather and at night,over inhospitable terrain or even if the pilot is stressed or under the weather?

Personally I feel the aircraft is better with a chute! This has to be the way forward with better and better designs which work at higher and higher speeds.

Single pilot with PAX who are powerless if anything goes wrong? At least the PAX have an option.

The pilot has more options if all goes badly pear shaped but with more options come more choices as in light twin flying and more options to take the wrong decision even if that decision is whether to go flying at all!

Pace

[coldair]

Link here ;

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...RD%2007-11.pdf


Coldair

[OpenCirrus619]

My PERSONAL view:
BRS: Great idea, can't see any reason not to fit it to new aircraft (cost aside).

Plus Points : Provides last chance in the case of major structural/control problems, engine failure with nowhere landable close, pilot incapacitation

Minus Points : Encourages pilots to push on without the necessary skill/experience.

Controversial point : Pilots losing control in IMC and relying on BRS to "save the day" (as opposed to having the necessary skill/training) should be viewed as grossly irresponsible (for getting into the situation where they needed the BRS) and required to undergo (extensive) re-training. The insurance company should also "take an appropriate view on culpability of the pilot and adjust payout accordingly".

OC619

[Sir George Cayley]

When I looked at a Cirrus I was told by the salesman that it was an AP flown a/c. In other words the AP was the primary method of control apart from take off and landing.

If this is indeed the case then one has to wonder what sort of checkout this hapless soul received?

SGC

[BillieBob]

When I looked at a Cirrus I was told by the salesman that it was an AP flown a/c. In other words the AP was the primary method of control apart from take off and landing.

If this is indeed the case then one has to wonder why it was ever given a Certificate of Airworthiness!

[Pace]

The Cirrus has quite a lively roll rate more akin to an aerobatic machine hence flown in IMC it would take quite a sharp IR pilot to hand fly it.

I believe that has been improved on the latest machines.

Autopilots notoriously go wrong so it would be irresponsable to totally rely on the autopilot not just in a Cirrus but in any aircraft.

At the end of the day the pilot has to be up to the task of flying the aircaft raw and dealing with all the other tasks expected of a single pilot in IMC!

Pace

[Genghis the Engineer]

'wot Pace sed.

I did a lot of touring around the British Isles before I had any kind of instrument qualification. I quite routinely changed plan and diverted. It was just part of "the game" of flying VFR in British weather. Doubtless as an IMC rated pilot, I'll still do the same in the future, instrument training isn't the solution to all ills.



I also recall my PPL and subsequent licences teaching me how to recover from unusual attitudes.

I also recall many briefings over the years along the lines of "aviate, navigate, communicate" and messages about not losing control of the aeroplane in the hurry to communicate.

It also appears likely that there was adequate warning both visually and from the forecast of weather deteriorating below VMC.

So, it does appear that there were four bvious points to break the accident chain here, none of which were taken.

A few of other thoughts:

- Pulling the chute at 3,000ft immediately was a very early disregard of other means of recovery.
- 120 kts is hardly fast for a cirrus, so does not in itself imply a large pitching departure. 25deg nose-down and 66deg bank is a pretty average PPL training spiral dive.
- The AAIB inspector who wrote that report was clearly enjoying having so much data to play with.
- All of this reads as a pilot whose stress levels were escalating, spare capacity going down, and had failed to recognise and deal with these factors.

G

[echobeach]

Why does the report state that the SR20 is only approved for flight under Vfr conditions ? With AP garmin 430 etc why cant this fly IFR in IMC outside of controlled airspace or am I missing something ?

[BEagle]

I agree, echobeach, I also found that statement perplexing.

Why spend all that money on all those fancy avionics and electronic displays if the aircraft is only certificated for flight in VMC? Looking at the Cirrus SRV technical specifications, the limitations seems to be that the 'PFD' is certified for flight in VMC only.

Seems frankly bizarre to me for an aeroplane spending much of its time in UK weather . As does a standard gyroscopic turn co-ordinator, mounted behind the instrument panel, which is not visible to the pilot during flight.

[IO540]

This is one of the most atrociously embarrassing accident reports I have ever read, and I have read many... if I was the pilot I would be grateful for not having my name on it.

I am not against a BRS chute and it is a great safety feature which would facilitate SE flight over areas where one might not want to go otherwise (mountains, forests) and it is a lot cheaper than having a second engine, but the vast majority of Cirrus chute pulls were the outcome of pilot stupidity / very poor training, and this is just one more of the same.

His atrocious instructor(s) - especially the one who signed him off - are no doubt equally grateful for remaining anonymous, but they would have nothing to fear under the UK system where there is never any comeback on an instructor.

To be fair however, in the UK PPL system you could get your differences training signed off for the Apollo Lunar Module without demonstrating competence on anything more than how to flip the main engine CBs... it is a long-obsolete system which is steeped in history and which has got totally left behind GA avionics development for about 20 years. It carries on largely because few instructors know even how to load a route into a Garmin 430 so there is no interest in the training apparatus in doing anything about it. When I bought my TB20 in 2002, I never found an instructor who knew how the HSI worked. Even the current JAA IR theory is full of old 1970s B737 crap.

There is a Cirrus training course which is insurer-mandated in the USA but I don't know what happens over here.

The statement

The aircraft was approved for flight under VFR only.

is indeed bizzare and shows how little GA expertise there is in the AAIB today. It may be technically true on the particular aircraft due to some avionics being missing but then the AAIB report should have amplified such a statement, because I am sure no VFR-only SR20 has ever been sold on G-reg or N-reg. I also think such an aircraft would have been illegal to fly due to required equipment being INOP.

I do know that ~ 25 years ago Socata were flying TB aircraft with no gyro instruments, on the ferry flight from France to Biggin Hill only, but they were never sold like that because they were unairworthy IAW the POH.

[Rod1]

It was probably VFR only due to the lack of an ADF.

This will go down as a save for BRS but the guy would not have been there if the BRS had not been fitted.

Rod1

[Pace]

Rod

I think the latest Cirrus are even fitted with an emergency auto recovery button which levels the aircraft if you loose it
All the Gizmos are great but it makes for lazy pilots.
Most of the jets I fly are the old steam driven variety from the 70s and early 80s. I call them good for the soul aircraft.
Even with jets we take every opportunity on positioning flights with no PAX and below RVSM airspace to hand fly the whole route.
Its what I call a good for the soul exercise.
I have had a number of autopilot failures. One into Berlin with no FD meant hand flying to 200 foot O/C and 700 metre vis.
Again good for the soul!
All these systems are great but not if the pilot becomes some sort of point and go guy who sits there as a semi passeneger.
I am hardly an expert on Cirrus although I do like the aircraft and did time the roll rate 45 deg to 45 deg some time back. It was very close to a Firefly so quite nifty! I remember thinking it would be hard work flying for prolonged periods in cloud raw.
Ok for a competant pilot but not for a point and go guy! Its a Cirrus not a Mooney

Pace

[sammypilot]

Embarrassed maybe............but alive. It is o.k. to say that he shouldn't have got himself into this mess but he did and had the common sense to recognise that he was out of his depth. That's one of the reasons you have a BRS fitted.

Might be interesting to see what quotes he gets for insurance on his next aircraft however.

[Contacttower]

I believe the SRV is VFR only out of the factory. The whole point of the aircraft was to sell it to flying schools that didn't want anything too fancy so that it could better compete with the C172 etc in the trainer market. It doesn't have the full IFR suite that the regular SR20/22 has.

It sounds from the report like he may have entered IMC briefly...I mean how else would he have ended up 25 degrees done and 66 degrees in roll? Unless he was so busy fiddling with the autopilot he didn't notice. Once having got into that situation rather than use the unusual attitude experience from his PPL training to recover he apparently panicked and through away a perfectly good aircraft.

I don't however belief that he wouldn't have been there without the chute...loads of pilots without chutes have tried continued VFR into IMC before and killed themselves in the process, people can just be that stupid. At least this guy appears to have tried to get out of it even if his skills were found somewhat wanting.

[IO540]

You are quite right, CT. The SRV is sold as VFR only. I eat my words.

How bizzare.

An autopilot is the best pilot workload reducer by far and while I have had a number of failures I would not embark on a long single pilot flight without it working.

A Cirrus is obviously flyable by hand, and I have flown one, but I think most "stick" tourers are routinely flown on the AP because the stick doesn't lend itself to quite such precise control as a yoke.

The bottom line in this one has to be pilot training. Not the weather as such because a PPL has to be able to fly in IMC, and do at least a 180.

[rasti121]

VFR only

Why does the report state that the SR20 is only approved for flight under Vfr conditions ? With AP garmin 430 etc why cant this fly IFR in IMC outside of controlled airspace or am I missing something ?

My best guess is page 21 "Aircraft information" of the report - it doesn't have backup Attitude Indicator. I would consider that a major issue for IFR approval anywhere. Can't remember a single Cirrus without it, this must be something special (or old?).

[BEagle]

I had a look at the Cirrus website this morning and was somewhat surpised at the complicated glass screens and the number of knobs and tits with which the cockpit of this VFR-only aeroplane is encumbered. All that eye-candy in a VFR-only environment which is supposed to be 'see and avoid'??

Good HMI means elegant simplicity, not overcomplicated displays with awkward input devices, layers of menus and sub-menus. The very last thing you need in a single pilot VMC aeroplane.

I always remember my 'car test' rules of thumb - how easy is it to:

1. Reset the clock and
2. Change the radio station.......

I never did find out how to change the station on a hire car I once had in Germany - after 10 minutes of beeps and admonishment from the display, I gave up. A Mercedes I once used, whilst mine was being serviced, had a clock which showed the wrong time. It took me 10 minutes of faffing to find out how to reset it!

[Contacttower]

The V is SRV stands for VFR. Basically the story is that Cirrus realised that while they had a great aircraft in the SR20/22 they were never going to compete with the C172 etc in the flight school market because they were just too expensive and flying schools were not interesting in paying more for aircraft that just flew a lot faster than its competitors.

So rather than come up with a new model they ripped out all the stuff that made it IFR, ie the Garmin 430 etc and sold it for $40,000 less or something like that. Doesn't make much sense to me though since while PPL training is done VFR I would have thought that most flying schools would have wanted the option to do instrument flight instruction as well.

In general I find the older Avidyne systems (which I'm assuming this had) quite simple to use, unlike the G1000 which if you don't know what you are doing can get you in a pickle quite quickly.