WMU CFI & STUDENT SURVIVE CRASH DUE TO PARACHUTE SYSTEM

WMU aircraft Deploys Parachute

A Western Michigan University (WMU) flight instructor and a student pilot encountered an aerial emergency on Wednesday 6/19/24, which resulted in the deployment of the aircraft's parachute system and a subsequent crash landing in a field in Hillsdale County, as reported by WOOD and WZZM 13. The incident occurred around 11:50 a.m. near Mosherville and Rainey Road in Litchfield Township, according to Michigan State Police.

 

[Waldom]

Well done to the crew that responded to whatever the actual emergency was as they were trained to do and survived.

Credit to Cirrus for championing the CAPS system. Yes, there have been many successful deployments that saved lives. The parachute is also a genius marketing tool that doubtless resulted in many sales that required non-flying spousal approval.

An interesting point is that the FAA approved the CAPS system as an alternative to the airplane being unable to meet spin recovery requirements. I bring this up because of a witness report of the subject airplane "spiraling", Witness reports are usually incorrect or at least misleading, but I wonder if the airplane was indeed in a developed spin. If so, would the parachute have been deployed if the airplane had been able to recover from it?

 

[midlifeflyer]

An interesting point is that the FAA approved the CAPS system as an alternative to the airplane being unable to meet spin recovery requirements

From what I’ve read, that’s not completely accurate. The FAA allowed CAPS to substitute for demonstrating spin recovery capability as an equivalent level of safety.

EASA was not as liberal and Cirrus was required to demonstrate spin recovery for EASA certification. Cirrus recovers from spins using standard spin recovery technique.

 

[Waldom]

Good to know the airplane can recover from a spin.

I'm guessing that a CAPS deployment is taught for spin recovery in the training curriculum. That is certainly the right move unless the airplane has sufficient altitude and the pilot is proficient in spin recovery. I would like to hear the details on this from a Cirrus instructor.

I have to acknowledge what appears to be the manufacturer's very effective training program. The airplane quickly acquired a high accident rate when it first came to market although I suspect that was no fault of the design. It was a matter or buyers purchasing an airplane whose performance exceeded their ability and not getting proper training. Cirrus addressed this with a thorough training program and the accident rate fell considerably.

 

[FlyBigE]

Every pilot should know how to avoid and also recover from spins. I have no experience in Cirrus, but when I learned to fly and when I was a CFI in 172's we stalled them a lot in training and Spins were covered as well. I have been out of small aircraft training for sometime now. Has this changed with Cirrus. Any spin = Pull handle