Airframe Parachutes Meet Personal Jets

[Matt Molnar]

With the "personal jet" class of aircraft quickly emerging, the company that brought parachutes to piston-powered aircraft such as those on many Cirrus birds is now developing 'chutes for mini-jets as well. Without a backup in the event the **** hits the (turbo)fan, it looks like the single engine Epic Victory will be the first jet with a safety chute.

Full story: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 20764.html (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4220764.html)

[hiss srq]

They develop these things because pilots with not enough experince to be flying a high pefromance airplane are buying them to fly. We call these "cocktail pilots"

[Informant]

No they are installing these for added safety, I use to Co-own a cirrus with some friends and it had one(actually two).

Plus if you are going to have a personal jet you are going to need to have a type on it.

[emshighway]

Yea, they work except if you hit a building :|

[cancidas]

what i'm wondering is how the chute will be employed in the airframe of the new little jets? will there be a max deployment airspeed? i doubt that they will be strong enough to deliver the airplane safely to the ground when flying at cruise speeds.

and another part of me thinks what's the point? are people going to buy this because insurance companies will give them a discount because they don't have the experience to fly airplanes like that in the first place? such is the case with the cirrus, and our insurance agent once told us that the savings with said chute installed are substantial.

[PhilDernerJr]

I think if you don't have experience to fly, that you're still going to fly no matter what. The chute just makes it a little safer. i see no problem with it.

[cancidas]

i agree that it will make the airplane a little safer, but it still needs to be employed properly. if you're screaming along in the flight levels and burn off all your fuel, pulling the chute isn't going to help in that situation. an experienced pilot would be able to at least get it to a safe altitude for chute deployment. personally i wouldn't attempt a dead stick landing but they are possible. side thought, do these microjets even have an APU?

[Mateo]

All Cirrusses have to have the chute. Since they didn't include spin recovery in the test flight program, the approved checklist to recover from a spin is
Parachute handle - PULL.

[cancidas]

Parachute handle - PULL.


WHAT?? spins are fun!