FWIW, I couldn't agree less. The underlying attitude is that "I'm a hero,
I'm THE RIGHT STUFF, I know better, I can handle everything thrown at me,
and damn the torpedoes".

What underlying attitude? One has a blackout, wakes up to find
themselves in a high speed unusual attitude, recovers from it, and
decides to get ou the ground. No hero stuff here.

The question is, under pilot control or under a canopy.

Once the pilot had recovered, the =emergency= was over. It was still a
crisis situation, but time was no longer of the essence. One should
consider all available options, including looking out the window before
pulling the chute if there's time to do so (which there was).

My understanding of the Cirrus (I've never flown one) is that the chute
decision is to be made pretty much instantly (to preclude further
development of the spin for which it is designed). This training leads
to sub-optimal results when the emergency is not a spin.

He was at 1700 feet, no longer descending, and below redline speed.
After a fraction of a second of thought, he pulled the chute. Let's
consider his stated reasons:

no desire to proceed any further into marginal weather

Not time critical. No heroics involved in making a U-turn.

concern over the loss of altitude;

Not time critical. He is no longer losing altitude, and 1700 is safe in
that area. (were he still descending, it would be time critical
inasmuch as one needs some altitude for chute deployment to work, even
if it's ballistic).

concern that the plane's structural integrity was compromised by the
high speed descent and recovery

This is somewhat valid, but since the plane is still intact I would look
out the window first, and slow the airplane down first. Once the plane
is slowed, the stresses on the airframe are reduced. Also, if the plane
did begin to break up, one could =then= pull the chute (assuming the
pilot didn't get knocked around too much).

concern that the weakness in my right leg might hinder
my ability to control the plane down to the runway.

Not time critical. Fly TO the runway and pull the chute over an open
area if you must. In the interim you may find that you could control
the aircraft enough to walk away, even if you couldn't reuse the plane.
I don't see this as heroic either.

There are some situations (in the Cirrus) where one must pull the chute
NOW, but others (such as this one) where this is not the case, and even
five seconds reflection would make a much better outcome. In fact, had
he done everything right, he would have landed right in the middle of
the fuel farm, and there might have been a huge fire and no internet
posting to tell the tale. No heroics, and the chute would have done its
job.

Jose
--
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