Another Cirrus 'chute deployment

The FAA report gives the position of his last radio contact as 2 miles east
of Manteca. This is right in the middle of the California Central Valley -
flat farm land, about 50' MSL that stretches uninterrupted north to south
for more than 350 miles. It is probably the longest emergency landing strip
west of the Rockies. There is no shortage of real airports either.

I would assume that either the spin was not recoverable, or the pilot simply
followed the instructions to use the BSR in the event of a spin. The real
question is how you could get into a spin from turbulence in cruise flight
in the first place. However, there were some mean thunderstorms in the area
at the time (2" of rain fell in Sacramento earlier in the day and the
weather was heading SW towards the accident area). Basically it was a mean
cold front that swept through the area about the time of the accident- and
it certainly wasn't forecast to be as wild as it turned out (wild by CA
standards that is). I would think he more than likely got caught up in some
of that convective activity.

I just got thinking why would you be at 16,000' over the CA Central Valley ?
I like to fly high, normally 8,500' is my min altitude while, I'm flying XC
around the state, but the oxygen requirements keep me below 12,500'. Even if
I had oxygen on board - I would probably not use it until I had to get to
altitude. For example, If you fly IFR than many of the MEA's over the
mountains are going to force your to have oxygen.

But say I was flying VFR, and I saw a line of CB ahead of me, I might be
tempted to push it and try to climb over them. Maybe, there is already a
layer underneath me so I can't get down to go underneath. Maybe, I just
don't want to be under a big mean CB build-up when it looks like it tops out
only a few thousand feet higher. Hopefully I have ox or maybe I figure I'll
be "over the hump" before I'll really need it. Either way I start climbing.
16,000' and the plane really doesn't want to go any higher, I've maxed out
the power, I'm pitched for best climb maybe a bit more and I'm still looking
like I'll enter the top of the cloud. I starting to get worried, maybe I'm
not IFR rated and anyway that is a mean CB cloud under me. I really don't
want to be inside it. Without realizing it, I'm dangerously close to a
stall. Maybe, I decide I've had enough and decide to do a 180, but as I
turn, the plane stalls. I wasn't expecting it and before I know it I'm into
the cloud getting kicked all over the place. Right about then I'd be really
glad if I had a parachute.

Brenor Brophy wrote:

I just got thinking why would you be at 16,000' over the CA Central Valley ?
I like to fly high, normally 8,500' is my min altitude while, I'm flying XC
around the state, but the oxygen requirements keep me below 12,500'. Even if
I had oxygen on board - I would probably not use it until I had to get to
altitude. For example, If you fly IFR than many of the MEA's over the
mountains are going to force your to have oxygen.

Here in the northeast US, there was a lot of thunderstorm activity this
past summer. I fly a turbo Bonanza and when t-storms were in the
forecast, I often chose an altitude in the mid-teens, despite having to
suck on some O2, to have a better chance of spotting the build-ups above
the haze and/or low layers.


--
Peter

Maybe the guy was laid off and/or unable to pay off the aircraft and did
this for the insurance???? or maybe it was a real emergency no one knows
except for the person flying the airplane. I'd seriously be questioning his
judgment from the news article!


"Brenor Brophy" wrote in message
.. .
The FAA report gives the position of his last radio contact as 2 miles
east
of Manteca. This is right in the middle of the California Central Valley -
flat farm land, about 50' MSL that stretches uninterrupted north to south
for more than 350 miles. It is probably the longest emergency landing
strip
west of the Rockies. There is no shortage of real airports either.

I would assume that either the spin was not recoverable, or the pilot
simply
followed the instructions to use the BSR in the event of a spin. The real
question is how you could get into a spin from turbulence in cruise flight
in the first place. However, there were some mean thunderstorms in the
area
at the time (2" of rain fell in Sacramento earlier in the day and the
weather was heading SW towards the accident area). Basically it was a mean
cold front that swept through the area about the time of the accident- and
it certainly wasn't forecast to be as wild as it turned out (wild by CA
standards that is). I would think he more than likely got caught up in
some
of that convective activity.

Brenor,

or the pilot simply
followed the instructions to use the BSR in the event of a spin.


Actually, the instructions are to try conventional recovery techniques
and THEN deploy the chute if they don't work. I wonder if that was
done. Also, I'd be very interested to know more about the involvement
of autopilot operations in this one.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert wrote:

done. Also, I'd be very interested to know more about the involvement
of autopilot operations in this one.

Good point. Climb near service ceiling, set the autopilot to hold
altitude, enter some downdraft, and when the autopilot has increased the
angle of attack to the maximum, hit some turbulence ... and there you
go. An autopilot isn't a substitute for pilot judgment.

Just speculating, as everybody.

Stefan

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Brenor,

or the pilot simply
followed the instructions to use the BSR in the event of a spin.


Actually, the instructions are to try conventional recovery techniques
and THEN deploy the chute if they don't work. I wonder if that was
done.

You continue to say this even though the manual does not. The manual
actually prohibits attempts at normal recovery and requires immediate
deployment of the BRS.

C J Campbell wrote:

You continue to say this even though the manual does not. The manual
actually prohibits attempts at normal recovery and requires immediate
deployment of the BRS.

Actually, the manual does say that - quite clearly, in fact.

Where's your Cirrus instructor kit - with the SR-20 and 22 IMs?

They state this quite clearly. You should be up to snuff on this if you
give as much 'advice' on the Cirrus product line as you have been lately.

Recently, Ryan Ferguson posted:

C J Campbell wrote:

You continue to say this even though the manual does not. The manual
actually prohibits attempts at normal recovery and requires immediate
deployment of the BRS.

Actually, the manual does say that - quite clearly, in fact.

Where's your Cirrus instructor kit - with the SR-20 and 22 IMs?

They state this quite clearly. You should be up to snuff on this if
you give as much 'advice' on the Cirrus product line as you have been
lately.

What I find puzzling is the contradictory statements about what is in the
manual. In another thread, "Cirrus Spin Recovery", the spin recovery
portion of the SR22 manual is directly quoted. There is *no* mention of
normal recovery, and very discouraging language about even trying to
recover normally. C J's statement is thus supported, while others who say
that their manuals include a normal recover procedure are in conflict (I
know what *I'd* do if I wound up spinning a Cirrus, since both manuals
agree on the deployment of the CAPS at some point).

Neil

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 11:59:04 GMT, "Neil Gould"
wrote:

What I find puzzling is the contradictory statements about what is in the
manual. In another thread, "Cirrus Spin Recovery", the spin recovery
portion of the SR22 manual is directly quoted. There is *no* mention of
normal recovery, and very discouraging language about even trying to
recover normally. C J's statement is thus supported, while others who say
that their manuals include a normal recover procedure are in conflict (I
know what *I'd* do if I wound up spinning a Cirrus, since both manuals
agree on the deployment of the CAPS at some point).

The original manuals did mention standard recovery for spirals and
incipient spins (spins which are about to start). Apparently too many
people did not understand the word incipient and read this to mean
normal spin recovery was possible. The manuals were updated and all
references to spin recovery other than CAPS were removed.