Cirrus SR22 down in Blue Mountains

[David C]

Ch7 Sydney is reporting a light aircraft has crashed in a residential St in Lawson NSW at this time . TV coverage shows the aircraft reg N802DK in what appears to be intact with the BRS deployed . It is reported to have been carrying 3 pax .. The aircraft is a Cirrus SR22 ..

Dave C

[Thomas Collins]

News story can be found here.

[Philip Argy]

This video explains the ingenious BRS, but you'll need to endure a bit of a lead-in ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_B--xSUxBA

[Grahame Hutchison]

Interesting they chose to deploy the CAPS when the Central Blue Mountains Golf Course was just on the other side of the Great Western Highway. I am assuming that once the chute is deployed, you have no control over where you will actually land, hopefully missing power lines etc.

Having flown over Blue Mountains plenty of times on the way out to Bathurst and Orange, there are not a lot of good forced landing sites between Wallacia and Lithgow, only the Golf Courses at Lawson, Katoomba, Blackheath, Wentworth Falls, The Fairmont Resort, and the Katoomba dirt strip itself.

The aircraft looked to be very badly damaged, but in the end they all walked away from the accident, so a good result.

[Philip Argy]

Saw a rumour that said this was a demo gone wrong ...

[Grahame Hutchison]

This was a brand new aircraft owned by Cirrus Aircraft, the certificate only being issued on 9/1/2014. The ferry flight to Australia started on 30/01/2014 and tracked Santa Maria, Hilo, Honolulu, Pago Pago,Goal Coast. N802DK has been all around the country, and spent most of April in the North and South Islands of New Zealand (tracking Ballina, Lord Howe, Norfolk, Bay Of Islands, Ardmore). Also looks to have been down to Illawarra Regional for WOI 2014.

Modification Listed on 28/1/2014

INSTALLED TEMPORARY FUEL SYSTEM RESTING ON PLYWOOD SUPPORTING ON EXISTING AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE. PLYWOOD BASE IS INSTALLED TO FACILITATE EVEN LOAD DISTRIBUTION. AIRCRAFT FLOOR LOADING LIMITS ARE NOT EXCEEDED FERRY SYSTEM CONSISTS OF 2 ALUMINUM TANKS. THE TANKING SYSTEM TOTAL CAPACITY IS 162 U.S. GALLONS. TANKS ARE CONSTRUCTED FROM .090 5052-H34 ALUMINUM WELDED AT ALL SEAMS, INTERNAL BAFFLES ARE INSTALLED AND WELDED INTO PLACE. CONSTRUCTION OF TANKS MEETS THE STANDARDS OF U.S. COAST GUARD 33 C.F.R. 183.580 SPECIFICATIONS. TANKS ARE PRESSURE AND LEAK TESTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 23.965A(1) AT POINT OF MANUFACTURE; WILLIAMS MANUFACTURING, TRACY, CA. ALL TANKS ARE SECURED TO SEAT TRACKS WITH CARGO TIE DOWNS. THESE TIE DOWN STRAPS ARE OF IDENTICAL TYPE THAT HAVE BEEN UTILIZED IN PREVIOUSLY FAA APPROVED TANKING SYSTEM STRAPS, (2 EACH) SECURE THE TANKS LONGITUDINALLY AND LATERALLY. FERRY FUEL TANKS ARE ELECTRICALLY BONDED TO THE AIRFRAME TO FACILITATE STATIC DISCHARGE,, AND ARE VENTED TO THE ATMOSPHERE, AS OUTLINED IN AC43-13-1B. CHAPTER 11 SECTION 15 PARAGRAPH 11-191 AND CHAPTER 8 SECTION 2 PARAGRAPH 8-33. THE FERRY TANKING SYSTEM IS PLUMBED INTO THE AIRCRAFT FUEL SYSTEM AS NOTED ON THE AIRCRAFT FUEL SYSTEM SCHEMATIC. THIS IS CO-LOCATED WITH, AND IS A PART OF THE FERRY FUEL MANAGEMENT DETAILS LOCATED IN ATTACHMENT 1 OF THE TANKING INSTALLATION PACKAGE. AIRCRAFT FERRY FUEL SYSTEM OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT DETAILS IS OUTLINED IN ATTACHMENT 2. CONTINUOUS AIRWORTHINESS COMPLIANCE NOT APPLICABLE DUE TO TEMPORARY INSTALLATION. INSTALLATION TEMPORARY WEIGHT AND BALANCE IS COMPUTED ON THE ATTACHMENT TO THE FERRY TANK

[Adam G]

Originally Posted by Grahame Hutchison

Interesting they chose to deploy the CAPS when the Central Blue Mountains Golf Course was just on the other side of the Great Western Highway. I am assuming that once the chute is deployed, you have no control over where you will actually land, hopefully missing power.

When you fly an aircraft with this type of recovery option your pre takeoff brief (or self brief) needs to be very clear about when you would deploy that - for me it always was when over water or over land when the terrain didn't represent a guarantee of a safe landing (note in that situation I define safe as survivable not plane in tact) Depending on the pilot, aircraft and weather a golf course wouldn't be the top of my list for a safe outcome - depending on the fairway you line up on there's trees, bends and also small rises and dips that aren't easy to spot from the air.

Ultimately once that engine fails the aircraft becomes the property of the insurance company - you're likely going to bend it to some extent no matter what option you choose - the aircraft can be replaced but the people in it can't - I wouldn't have hesitated to pull the handle in a similar situation in that part of the world - it gives you a much better chance of walking away when over difficult terrain when a golf course is the only other real option. It would of course be a different story close to an airport or over flat terrain where a normal forced landing will be more controllable with a much lower rate of descent on touchdown.

[Grahame Hutchison]

I have not had the opportunity to try a Cirrus, so my thoughts are based on a traditional forced landing scenario, were these Golf Courses are practically the only non-rugged terrain across the mountains, apart from the Katoomba strip.

Interesting to contemplate using a BRS equipped aircraft in this situation. Presumably the procedure would be the normal FCMOST type checks followed by a MAYDAY, then deployment. Is the deployment mechanism purely mechanical when you pull the handle ?

In a non BRS equipped aricraft there is always the opportunity to try another restart during the forced landing if altitude permits, however once the chute is deployed I would presume that is not an option.

Does the aircraft need to be in any particular attitude for deployment ?

Once deployed, can the aircraft provide any directional control at all, or are you just at the mercy off the prevailing winds ?

[Adam G]

It's been a number of years since I've flown one but from memory it was purely mechanical - when the handle is pulled (with a degree of force required) a cable linked to the rocket is activated resulting in the rocket firing.

You certainly don't need to be straight and level - it's also designed to provide recovery from unusual attitudes (so is useful for VCR into IMC etc). There are max demonstrated speeds though.

Once it's pulled there's no real directional control and no going back so if you used it for an engine failure you'd do all the trouble checks first (altitude permitting) before activating it.

Just one more thing to note - the Cirrus is a fast aircraft compared to a C172 etc - the glide speed was 88kts - with a stall speed of 60kts - you need more space to force land one then a c172 or PA28.

The below link has more details on the CAPS system you might be interested in.

http://cirrusaircraft.com/static/img/CAPS_Guide.pdf

Like any aircraft you just need to always know what action you'd take at every stage of the flight should the engine fail - in your PA28 you'd always have a forced landing area in the back of your mind - in the Cirrus you either have that or the CAPS deployment as the option. The system does make you feel a little more comfortable doing NVFR and SEIFR flying - I've done both in both Cirrus and other light aircraft and certainly preferred knowing the option was there - even in situations like ILS overshoots at airports like YBBN that puts you over water it was preferable to a non-equipped aircraft where ditching with fixed gear wouldn't be a great outcome.

[Philip Argy]

Thanks for the guide link, Adam. I must say it's a pretty clever system. Particularly impressive is that the parachute still remains effective when deployed as low as 500 feet and at speeds of up to 187 knots, producing a vertical descent speed of just 17 knots combined with undercarriage and structural crumple zones to absorb virtually all of that vertical impact force.

Certainly better than hitting something at the 60 kts stall speed on a glide-in.