Mike Ash writes:

You said:

"I read yesterday that the descent rate of a Cirrus with the parachute
deployed is around 1700 fpm, far more than a competent pilot could
manage by actually flying the aircraft."

In short, you directly said that a competent pilot flying the aircraft
could not come anywhere close to 1700fpm. This is blatantly wrong.

No, I said that 1700 fpm greatly exceeds what a pilot could limit the descent
rate to if he actually flew the aircraft. I thought that would be clear in
context. Why would the pilot want to hit the ground at greater than 1700 fpm?