I've never used a parachute. My uncle and father are USAF Korea vets, and
had them onboard always, and my uncle had to eject out of his F86 once. I
found in his Dad's papers (my grandfather's) the letter my uncle wrote to
him describing this event, Uncle being about 20 at the time: "I was up
about 10 minutes and had to bail out because the flight leader saw smoke and
I had a forward fire warning light on. I ejected at about 14,000 and lost
my helmet. For some reason my foot hung up in the seat but I kicked that
away with no trouble. [describes a small cut he got in his head from a
chute buckle] I'll bet I looked wild when I walked into Wilson Creek (a
very small town) with my chute all over my shoulder and my collar soaked in
blood." I just happen to have this letter at hand now to quote from, it
having surfaced recently.

Your dismissal of the safety benefits of a Cirrus chute just does not fit
with my perception. The first save by such a chute came about just a few
miles from where I live, near Denton Texas. The concept in my view is
brilliant. If I ever buy a single again, it will have one. I had an engine
failure in the last single I owned. I stand by my statement that it might
save lives in the event of an iced-up Cirrus that will be making an
off-airport landing soon.

I know you'll find something arrogant to say about this, so take your last
shot.



"Michael" wrote in message
om...
"Dan Thompson" wrote
OK, you win. Cirrus owners are stupid.

Don't speak for the group - the Cirrus owners I've met are actually
quite bright. Of course none of them would suggest that the chute was
a reasonable backup for icing TKS can't handle. In fact, the only
Cirrus owner I ever met who considered the chute an important selling
point had a very interesting reason. He used to own a Bonanza, and
his wfe wouldn't fly with him. Now he has a Cirrus, and his wife will
- she considers it safe because of the parachute. That's worth a lot
to him, since now the plane can be used for family trips.

As dumb as car drivers and bikers.

I have yet to see any evidence that pilots are on average any smarter
than drivers. They are generally somewhat better trained.

They would be idiots to try the chute as a last resort in an iced-up
airplane. I was stupid to mention it. What was I thinking?

I have no idea what you were thinking. Have you ever made a parachute
descent through icing conditions? Have you ever made a parachute
descent at all? This, IMO, is the fundamental problem with the Cirrus
chute. Most of the pilots flying it have zero experience with
parachutes, and thus a very poor understanding of what they're good
for.

Michael