Cirrus down near Aspen

[murphey]

Pulled the chute, everyone’s fine. But....here’s a quote from the county deputy sheriff

““This is certainly the first crash of this sort where everyone walks away and I had never heard of a plane with a parachute on it before last night,” he said.”

https://www.aspendailynews.com/news...624bbac8-41ec-11ea-8b83-fbb0e9c91898.html#ath

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

Took off from Aspen in January, for a flight in the mountains. And didn't have clothes warm enough if something went wrong.

I think that is the important point and is a more common error than one might think. Not just Cirrus pilots do that.

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

I’ve read elsewhere that this was VMC on an IFR flight plan. That may be the one thing he got right. Why an ASI failure would be a problem VMC, I can’t fathom.

I had something similar happen over the flatlands of eastern S. Dakota. Vacuum pump failure and when I look to the AI something is very seriously wrong. It is a bit distracting and I had to focus hard on not looking at it for the first few minutes. A cover would help (now carry some post-it notes for this purpose)

Then was able to fly it back in VMC and get the pump replaced. Agreed - doesn’t seem like a reason to pull the chute, especially over hazardous terrain.