The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System also known as CAPS provides the Cirrus aircraft with an additional level of safety. It is not guaranteed to save the occupants in the event of an accident, but it definitely provides another option, where as no other aircraft on the market can.
As of January 30, 2001, there have been 29 known CAPS activations. Of those activations, 26 deployments are considered to have been "saves" that involved 50 survivors with one fatality. This figure also does not include the one unborn child who was also saved in CAPS pull #13. There were four other activations however that were not successful deployments, resulting in five fatalities and two serious injuries. The four unsuccessful deployments involved one activation at very high speed (likely in excess of 270 knots, twice the deployment speed), one activation at too low an altitude to fully inflate the canopy (witnesses report 50 to 200 feet above ground), another activation where the rocket took an unusual trajectory resulting in a failure to extract the parachute, and a mid-air collision where the parachute was likely activated by impact forces. The rocket trajectory anomaly was investigated and an airworthiness directive was published requiring a modification of the CAPS rocket assembly. Although any loss of life is tragic, 50 "saves" is pretty amazing and thanks to this new safety measure, that is 50 less fatalities in General Aviation.
For more information on each individual accident, please go to http://www.cirruspilots.org/Content/CAPSHistory.aspx
Hey Mike, just wondering how this would differ from the anti-spin parachute developed in the early 30s?
ReplyDeleteDana, to be honest up front, I don't know much about the anti-spin chutes other than by employing them, the plane would come under control and then they would be cut away and the plane could land. Or so I think that's how they work. The CAPS system is an entire plane system. If the aircraft has a catastrophic failure, or the pilot looses control, the pilot can pull on the handle and the entire plane comes under canopy and floats safely to the ground. It just gives a pilot one more option. To date there have been 43 saves and every "pull" that has been done within the parameters of the system have been successful. Thanks for the question, hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike.
ReplyDelete