Lancaster California: Another Fatal Cirrus Crash

5. The plane was a rental at VNY Gene Hudson Aviation.

That was my first thought, since they are the only ones I know of that train
in Cirrus around here, but that plane was not their tail #.
As far as I know they only have 1 SR20 for rent, and it's a different tail
#.

It was a windy day in S. Ca., which tells me the gusts were really high
around Fox (normal cenario), but news reports said wind was calm.
I have never seen a windy day in S. Ca. where it wasn't even windier at Fox.

I have been hit by gusts in that pattern that really made me pucker up.
I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it.
Alex

In all there are 45 in the AOPA database (Cirrus Design) starting in
1990 with the VK-30. 18 are reported as Fatal. Last entry is 12/11/2005
in Acro MN.

Larry Dighera wrote:
On 10 Jan 2006 09:08:02 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote in .com::


Just like Richard Collins says. The chute is a great way to make the
wife feel safer about flying but most accidents happen too close to the
ground to make a real difference.



It would seem that a forced landing in the desert would cause little
damage; after all gliders do it routinely. As the aircraft was on
final approach at the time, an unrecoverable stall/spin may have been
a factor. Perhaps the distraction of attempted 'chute deployment was
also a factor in this mishap? At any rate, I would expect seat-belt
harness to have precluded substantial injury in a forced landing in
the desert.

How many Cirrus crashes is the NTSB concurrently investigating now?

They've removed the crashed aircraft, quickly. You can still see the
cached version in Google by typing N526CD and click their cached
version web content.

When I was given a demo flight by Cirrus, I checked their glide ratio
is...VERY IMPRESSIVE (9:1)....however, here is the catch: the best
glide speed is at 110kt. On a climb out like this (Vx may be 85), you
have only few seconds to lower the nose and prepare for a crash landing
in front of you. Otherise, stall and spin.

I don't think so. Boeing will make 787 almost full composite. The
problem is their design. Both Cirrus and Columbia have very high
wing-load, therefore fast speed.
Which implies its stall speed is high and poor low-speed handling.
Wingload is the total wight devided by wing area. High wing load
means per square feet of wing has to bear higher weight of the craft.
In the low speed, you can imaging that the low air pressure max out its
capability to bear the weight.

In article om,
"cpu" wrote:

When I was given a demo flight by Cirrus, I checked their glide ratio
is...VERY IMPRESSIVE (9:1)....however, here is the catch: the best
glide speed is at 110kt.

No, that's the normal climb speed. Best glide is 88 KIAS.

rg

Larry Dighera wrote:
On 10 Jan 2006 09:08:02 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote in .com::

How many Cirrus crashes is the NTSB concurrently investigating now?


On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 10:29:29 -0600, Ross Richardson
wrote in
::

In all there are 45 in the AOPA database

Have you got a URL for that?

(Cirrus Design) starting in 1990 with the VK-30.
18 are reported as Fatal. Last entry is 12/11/2005
in Acro MN.


I suppose about one fatal mishap per year is not too alarming. But it
just feels like there have been more lately. I still wonder how many
final Cirrus crash reports the NTSB has yet to issue.

"cpu" wrote in message
ps.com...
I don't think so. Boeing will make 787 almost full composite. The
problem is their design. Both Cirrus and Columbia have very high
wing-load, therefore fast speed.
Which implies its stall speed is high and poor low-speed handling.
Wingload is the total wight devided by wing area. High wing load
means per square feet of wing has to bear higher weight of the craft.
In the low speed, you can imaging that the low air pressure max out its
capability to bear the weight.


I agree. I don't think it's a design issue, I think it is just at slow and
low speed there isn't much margin AND the chute is useless at that phase.

----------------------------------------------------
DW

I don't think so. Boeing will make 787 almost full composite.

I was referring to the "Perhaps there's something inherently dangerous
about composite
aircraft...".

Also I should not say "The problem is their design. ". It is not
really a "problem" but a "characteristic". As a pilot, you have to
understand the behavior of a aircraft. But in this case, I would say
the window margin is really short.

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 07:46:42 -0800, "#1ACGuy"
wrote in ::


5. The plane was a rental at VNY Gene Hudson Aviation.

That was my first thought, since they are the only ones I know of that train
in Cirrus around here, but that plane was not their tail #.

http://www.genehudson.com/ghft/ac4rent.html
Aircraft Rental
We offer the following aircraft for rental: 2003 Cirrus SR22 N224PR
2005 Cirrus SR20 N526CD
2005 Cirrus SR20 N64CD
1978 Cessna T210 N44HR

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2005 Cirrus SR20 Rate: $200/hr
Registration No: N562CD
Serial No.: 1545


General:
Factory NEW as of August 26, 2005
Fuselage, wings, stabilizers: Oven-cured pre-preg composite
Control surfaces: aluminum
Seats: 4
Power control: Single lever controls both throttle and propeller
Emergency Safety System: BRS CAPS (Cirrus Airplane Parachute System)
Secondary Safety System: Front Seat Belt Airbags
Buses: Dual redundant, with emergency cross-over capability
Alternators: Dual, 60amp/20amp
Batteries: Dual, independent
Engine:
TCM IO-360-ES
200 h.p. @ 2700 rpm
3-blade ‘Scimitar’ constant-speed propeller
Avionics:
Primary Flight Display (PFD):
Avidyne Entegra
10.4 full-color
All solid-state (MMIC) attitude and heading reference (AHARS)
Integrated air data computer, with continuous display of wind
direction and velocity; indicated airspeed, true airspeed and
groundspeed
Magnetometer: full-time, all-attitude sensing of magnetic north
Attitude, altitude and vertical speed displays
Trend indicators for airspeed and altitude
Heading, navigation (3 separate nav sources displayed simultaneously)
Heading, altitude and vertical speed 'bugs', interfaced to autopilot
Autopilot mode annunciators
Projected track indicator
Multi-Function Display (MFD)
Avidyne FlightMax EX5000C
10.4" full-color color moving map
Flight plan with color-coded active and next legs
Airports, navaids, intersections and obstacles database
Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning [TAWS/EGPWS] w/audio alerts
L3 Stormscope lightning detection system
Satellite-based in-flight XM weather including METARs, uplinked
weather radar
Fuel management (fuel flow, fuel on board, fuel predicted remaining at
destination)
Engine management: Engine parameters, temperatures; lean assist
Backup instruments: airspeed, altitude and attitude indicators
Navigation: Dual Garmin GNS430 GPS/VOR/LOC/GS receivers,
IFR certified Autopilot: S-Tec System 55X Two axis
Completely separate from PFD/attitude indicators; acts as a backup to
flight instrument failure
Heading, Nav, GPSS, and Approach modes interfaced to PFD
Vertical speed hold, altitude pre-select, altitude hold, glideslope
coupling
Audio Panel: Garmin GMA340
Built-in four-place intercom with pilot/crew isolation
Auxiliary jack for entertainment system input
Marker beacon receiver with mute
Optional Equipment:
Rosen Sun Visors
Rental:
High Performance Glass Cockpit Trainer
Available for dual or solo
Student Pilot or better
Cirrus Transition Course (taught by us) or 10 hours make/model plus
checkout
Online Scheduling
Aircraft Checkout Questions (PDF File)

Tel: 818-382-4791
7949 Woodley Ave
Van Nuys, California 914