Cirrus... is it time for certification review?

I hate to tell you guys this but you better look more carefully. I am a
mechanical engineering student at a very well known and respected
engineering university (I won't comment on which one because I don't feel
it is ethically correct for this letter). I am currently working full time
in the field of mechanical engineering (not aeronautics yet) and I have
only begun to research a project for an engineering reliability report and
already some pretty clear facts are starting to pop up. It seems that
pilots enter turbulence or icing conditions and that starts to cause
delamination problems with Cirrus's high tech polymer/foam shell.
Hypothetically what might happen next is the pilots try like hell to get
the things under control while they are falling apart in the sky. Again,
hypothesizing, they might try rapid maneuver's to get the plane that is
now falling apart under control and end up stalling out the engine. They
are now completely losing it and instead of trying to glide down to a safe
height and speed to deploy the parachute they deploy at high altitudes and
speeds and the parachute rips away. Who knows maybe they can't get the
plane under enough control to safely deploy the parachute, after all, if
the plane is in the process of delaminating itself (i.e. layers of polymer
ripping away) maybe it is not possible. Now I am not a pilot and as I said
my report is not complete but I can tell you that maybe some people better
start asking the right questions like why is this thing delaminating under
mildly icy conditions. I mean most of these pilots in these accidents were
trying to get away from the clouds and some of them had the de-icing
option?????? Why have a de-icing option if it doesn't work - and
typically most mechanical designs are designed to fail slowly to allow
time to take alternative, life saving action. It seems this failure is
happening way too quickly and without enough of a safety factor for the
possible working environment. I personally love the look and the
"high-tech" of the plane but if I were a pilot this delamination thing
would have me spooked. You guys as pilots should really check out the
NTSB site (http://www.ntsb.gov) before forming an opinion. Of course, as
I said as an engineer I would decline to comment rather than get my rear
in a sling but, as a concerned citizen, you guys should do some more
research before endorsing this plane. Oh by the way the plane does have a
33% higher failure ratio than other planes in the competing class
(http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ne...-nynews-print).
Again, obviously I really don't know what I am talking about, this is not
an official statement, and all the other disclaimers I can possibly
include but just some information I thought you guys might want to know.

Anonymous Mechanical Engineering Student (senior)

Anonymous Engineering Student

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