Cirrus Lands via Parachute in Nantucket

Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

The two aboard had minor injuries but will be ok. Nobody was injured on
the ground.

Here is a news link:
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...180319/-1/NEWS

Other reports said that it was a Cirrus, although the make/model hasn't
been confirmed yet.

Owen Rogers wrote in
:

Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

Judah wrote:
Owen Rogers wrote in
:

Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

That's what I was thinking. There is either much more to this story or
this was one dumb pilot. I'm hoping it is the former.

Matt

Judah wrote:

Owen Rogers wrote in
:

Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

Don't know, or what the options were. I do know that weather had generally
been good yesterday and got drastically worse around the accident time. The
accident time was around 8:45 PM, aka 180045. They might have been in the
soup for a short while before they pulled the handle. Check out how fast the
low vis and low ceiling appeared after a beautiful cloudless day:

KACK 180100Z 20007KT 3SM BR SCT001 BKN007 BKN015 20/19 A2981 RMK AO2 RAE0054
KACK 180053Z 21006KT 2 1/2SM -RA BR BKN001 OVC015 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2 RAB17
SLP098 P0001 T02000189
KACK 180050Z 21006KT 2 1/2SM -RA BR OVC001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2 RAB17 P0001
KACK 180045Z 21008KT 1 3/4SM -RA BR OVC001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2 RAB17 P0000
****
KACK 180025Z 22008KT 1/2SM -RA FG VV001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2 RAB17 P0000
KACK 180018Z 22008KT 1SM -RA BR VV001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2 RAB17 P0000
KACK 180014Z 21008KT 2 1/2SM BR SCT001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2
KACK 172353Z 22007KT 6SM HZ CLR 20/17 A2982 RMK AO2 SLP097 T02000172 10256
20194 58003
KACK 172253Z 25008KT 10SM CLR 21/13 A2983 RMK AO2 SLP103 T02110133

Owen Rogers wrote in
:

Don't know, or what the options were. I do know that weather had
generally been good yesterday and got drastically worse around the
accident time. The accident time was around 8:45 PM, aka 180045. They
might have been in the soup for a short while before they pulled the
handle. Check out how fast the low vis and low ceiling appeared after a
beautiful cloudless day:

[...]
P0001 KACK 180045Z 21008KT 1 3/4SM -RA BR OVC001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2
RAB17 P0000 ****
[...]
KACK 180014Z 21008KT 2 1/2SM BR SCT001 20/19 A2982 RMK AO2

I'm not trying to be judgemental, but the weather was below VFR minimums for
at least 1/2 hour by then.

Do you know where they started?

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Judah wrote:
Owen Rogers wrote in
:
Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

That's what I was thinking. There is either much more to this story or
this was one dumb pilot. I'm hoping it is the former.

He is alive so he's not to dumb. He has money so who cares about the plane.

Matt

Judah,


Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?


Ah, the Monday morning quarterback ;-)

The NTSB records are full of pilots who thought "I can save this by keeping
on flying..." The chute is meant to avoid exactly this kind of situation.

How the pilot got into it is a completely different question. BUt he got
out alive.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Aluckyguess wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Judah wrote:

Owen Rogers wrote in
:

Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

That's what I was thinking. There is either much more to this story or
this was one dumb pilot. I'm hoping it is the former.


He is alive so he's not to dumb. He has money so who cares about the plane.
More money than brains? Most pilots have heard of diversion to another
airport in case of bad weather or other person. The Pilot Examiner would
have made sure that he had considered alternates for the cross country
part of the check ride. He might have an interesting time explaining to
his insurance company also. They might not want to write him another
policy again (if this story is as stated)!




Matt

On Aug 19, 4:53 am, Thomas Borchert
wrote:
Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?

Ah, the Monday morning quarterback ;-)

The NTSB records are full of pilots who thought "I can save this by keeping
on flying..." The chute is meant to avoid exactly this kind of situation.

The Cirrus chute is meant to recover from situations that competent
piloting cannot reliably recover from (e.g. spins). It's not meant to
substitute for knowing how to fly.

How the pilot got into it is a completely different question. BUt he got
out alive.

Luckily, the pilot and passenger were not fatally injuried. But the
uncontolled parachute descent of an aircraft is dangerous to the
occupants and to people on the ground. It could have been a lot worse.

Cruise flight in simple instrument conditions is something that all
private pilots are required to be capable of. A pilot whose
proficiency has lapsed should not be flying without an instructor--
especially not to ACK at night, a place that's notorious for poor
visibility (ACK is next to MVY, where JFK Jr. crashed after losing
sight of the horizon). And that's not even considering that ACK was
reported IMC for half an hour prior to the parachute deployment (so
even a proficient pilot should not have been flying there VFR).

Still, you're right that if the pilot was not competent to fly the
aircraft, pulling the chute was probably the best choice at that
point. The fault lies not with that decision, but with all the
decisions leading up to it, starting with the choice to get in the
plane.

Aluckyguess wrote:
"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Judah wrote:
Owen Rogers wrote in
:
Looks like another save for BRS and Cirrus.

Apparently a Cirrus was attempting to land ACK VFR last night when they
ran into weather (fog and low visibility after sunset on the island are
common in the summer). They pulled the Ballistic Recovery System
parachute about 5 miles northeast of ACK.
Wouldn't it have been easier to just turn around?
That's what I was thinking. There is either much more to this story or
this was one dumb pilot. I'm hoping it is the former.

He is alive so he's not to dumb. He has money so who cares about the plane.

Sorry, being alive is hardly a measure of dumb or lack thereof. I know
a lot of dumb people who are alive and well.

Matt