Marketing and the Cirrus Sales Pitch

"Doug" wrote:

Whatever they are doing, they are selling a lot of airplanes and their
airplanes have a high accident and fatality rate. I don't think anyone
knows why.


Sure we do. Pilots doing stupid things. Now whether the BRS gives
them false confidence or not I really don't care. But of the
deployments I have heard about...pilot stupidity was the primary
causal factor for getting to the point of deployment.

Ron Lee

I think the BRS is more for the non-pilot. The wife, friends wife thats
afraid to fly and so on. Just my thoughts.

Robert M. Gary writes:

I doubt the sales people are that stupid. I'm sure they taylor their
sales pitch to the pilot specifically. If they are talking with a
10,000 hour pilot you can bet the pitch is different than that of a 100
hr pilot. Even a used car dealer uses a different approach to the CEO
than to the college student.

They may not be targeting 10,000-hour pilots to begin with. Even a
very casual glance does create the impression that they are selling to
inexperienced pilots, and that they are using the bizarre concept of a
parachute to give these pilots a false sense of security. I'm sure
the idea is to make pilots think that, no matter what happens, they'll
be safe in a Cirrus aircraft, which in turn will make them think that
they need not worry about any mistakes they might make.

--
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Jim Logajan writes:

Is it the design or construction of the plane that is the causal factor or
the pilot of the plane that is the causal factor for the alleged higher-
than-average accident rate?

Perhaps a plane designed to encourage carelessness combined with a
target demographic of inexperienced and potentially careless pilots.
I doubt that the plane is intrinsically unsafe, but the notion of a
parachute speaks volumes on the design and sales goals.

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Aluckyguess writes:

I think the BRS is more for the non-pilot. The wife, friends wife thats
afraid to fly and so on. Just my thoughts.

If they looked at the numbers they might change their minds, but often
rationality has nothing to do with it (especially if they are
excessively worried in the first place).

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Ron,

Now whether the BRS gives
them false confidence or not I really don't care.


If it does, that's really the first part of pilot stupidity.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

John,

Me feeling is that the Cirrus marketing/sales pitch is targeted at a
specific market, low time pilots with little experience. They focus on
the BRS parachute as the solution to any unexpected situation.


What do you expect? That they try and keep people from buying their
plane? Of course they praise the chute, since only they have one. They'd
be stupid not to. They'd be equally stupid, however, to target only low
time pilots. Again, why would they?

Arguing for the chute in a single engine aircraft for engine failures at
night or in hard IFR is pretty compelling to me. Arguing for it as an
all-situations problem saver is dumb - and the salesman I sat down with
didn't.

Oh, FWIW, Dick Collins compared the accident rates of NEW 182s with those
of Cirrus. They are very similar.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Mxsmanic wrote:

Perhaps a plane designed to encourage carelessness combined with a
target demographic of inexperienced and potentially careless pilots.
I doubt that the plane is intrinsically unsafe, but the notion of a
parachute speaks volumes on the design and sales goals.

Designed to encourage carelessness? Are you an aircraft designer now?
What exact features are you referring to?


The parachute? Every manned spacecraft (with the exception of the
Orbiter) that has flown to date has a parachute incorporated into the
design, and a successful mission depends on its deployment. How does the
notion of a parachute automatically encourage carelessness?

Please base your answer on your actual flight experience in actual
aircraft, if possibile.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Aluckyguess writes:

I think the BRS is more for the non-pilot. The wife, friends wife thats
afraid to fly and so on. Just my thoughts.

If they looked at the numbers they might change their minds, but often
rationality has nothing to do with it (especially if they are
excessively worried in the first place).

I had many friends say I should of bought the Cirrus because of the chute. I
actually looked at a used one and was going to buy it until I got the
insurance quote. 10K a year. I was actually a litttle intimitated by the
plane at first.
I think its a great plane, but at this point if I was considering a new
plane I would go A36.


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Pilot stupidity is the primary causal factor of most GA accidents.

Mike Schumann

"Ron Lee" wrote in message
...
"Doug" wrote:

Whatever they are doing, they are selling a lot of airplanes and their
airplanes have a high accident and fatality rate. I don't think anyone
knows why.


Sure we do. Pilots doing stupid things. Now whether the BRS gives
them false confidence or not I really don't care. But of the
deployments I have heard about...pilot stupidity was the primary
causal factor for getting to the point of deployment.

Ron Lee