On 10 Jan 2006 09:08:02 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote in .com::

Just like Richard Collins says. The chute is a great way to make the
wife feel safer about flying but most accidents happen too close to the
ground to make a real difference.


It would seem that a forced landing in the desert would cause little
damage; after all gliders do it routinely. As the aircraft was on
final approach at the time, an unrecoverable stall/spin may have been
a factor. Perhaps the distraction of attempted 'chute deployment was
also a factor in this mishap? At any rate, I would expect seat-belt
harness to have precluded substantial injury in a forced landing in
the desert.

How many Cirrus crashes is the NTSB concurrently investigating now?