Without a doubt, the Cirrus parachute system has saved lives. Note the parachute must be deployed at least 500 feet above the ground.Ĭirrus boldly calls the CAPS, “the most groundbreaking safety technology ever.” Its inspiration was a mid-air collision that could have led to tragedy, but instead led to the creation of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. Generally known as a ballistic recovery system, CAPS uses a ballistic rocket-fired parachute that extracts a large round parachute attached to the airframe. The most groundbreaking safety technology ever?Ĭirrus is the only general aviation aircraft manufacturer in the world that provides a parachute safety feature as standard equipment on its aircraft.
CIRRUS PLANE PARACHUTE UPDATE
Here’s an overview and update on the state of the Cirrus parachute system. This is significant, because while pulling the red handle may total the airplane, the pilot and passengers will almost always survive if it’s done within the limitations of the system. In fact, 2014 marked the first time the two curves crossed, with more CAPS events (12) than fatal accidents (3). Of those activations, 60 deployments are considered "saves" that involved 120 survivors (121 counting an unborn child), with two fatalities.Īnd while fatal accidents have been dropping, the number of CAPS deployments has been increasing. Small aircraft pilots, consider this: According to the latest Cirrus Owners and Pilots Associationnumbers, there have been 74 known Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) events as of January 8, 2016. Cirrus has experienced an increase in CAPS deployments, and a decrease in fatalities which gives Cirrus one of the best safety records in the industry.Aircraft | Cirrus | Airframe | Parachute | Ĭirrus Parachute System Update, March 2016 Cirrus Parachute System Update As of December 18th 2018, 19 of the aircrafts involved in CAPS deployments have been repaired and put back into service. In the 104 successful deployments, 212 lives have been saved with 1 fatality. Since aircrafts started using CAPS, the parachute system has been activated 123 times, 104 of which saw successful parachute deployment. The Cirrus Vision SF50 was certified to use CAPS in October 2016 and was the first jet with a ballistic parachute. Cirrus bought the airframe back, repaired it, and used it as a demo plane. This aircraft had to deploy the parachute and landed safely in Mesquite, TX leaving only small damages on the airframe of the aircraft. The first aircraft to have an emergency and have to deploy the parachute was the aircraft registered under the tail N1223S. The two companies developed the parachute to be pulled from a small solid-fuel rocket that was placed in the fuselage.
The development of CAPS was done through a collaboration between Cirrus and Ballistic Recovery Systems. Cirrus achieved certification by the FAA for this product in October 1998, and for 16 years was the only aircraft ballistic parachute system used as standard equipment in all of aviation. The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) is a ballistic parachute recovery system designed for planes, specifically for the Cirrus SR20, SR22 and SF50.
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