I Guess Aircraft Chutes Work!

[Bruzilla]

These have been around for a while, but I've never seen one actually used before. Looks like it works!

http://www.wokv.com/news/news/local/near-miss-small-plane-lands-safely-palatka-neighbo/nqWhg/

Jacksonville, Fl — A small plane landed safely in the backyard of a house in Palatka. The pilot deployed a parachute to prevent a hard landing or crash into a house.

"Not hitting the houses was probably luck but I can tell you the parachute system worked and the pilot has only received very minor injuries", said Putnam County Sheriff's Office Captain Joseph Wells.

The pilot says he lost lost power due to a mechanical issue as he was approaching the Palatka Airport.

The plane landed between three houses, within 25 feet from a house. We're told the pilot was transported to Putnam Community Medical Center for evaluation but he was alert.

"There is no damage to the homes in the area. There's some minor damage to the aircraft and to a small utility trailer that was in the yard that the aircraft struck when it came down", said Captain Wells.

 

[usaroadrunner]

Pure awesomeness I wonder if we will build off this.

 

[Photon440]

Looks like a Cirrus SR22. That company puts the Airframe Parachute System into all its planes and I'll bet this pilot will spread his praises for it from now on. Lucky guy!

 

[Budnicks]

Great if &/or when you really need it...LOL

looks like it worked for him/them

seems like it would hamper the ability to dead stick {? I'm not a pilot} glide down...
I guess it's only for condition where you can't glide, no engine assist ?

I've seen some video of parachutes & small planes coming down, in the past...
IIRC it looked kind of like a controlled crash somewhat a nose dive thou, parachute holding the tail up/nose down, the one I remember seeing anyway...

 

[MOPOWER871]

the rules of three + two
three weeks without food
three days without water
three hours without shelter in extreme circumstances
three minutes without air
three seconds to react to an emergence
the choice you make could mean the difference between life or death. if that pilot said to him self , self this is not happening to me (denial) i think i could make it and crash short of the run way , trapped in plane , fire ...... happens all the time. he pulled the shoot and prayed . not sure if that aircraft will fly again maybe .looks intact i'm sure it will be inspected by the FAA and the NTSB.It did its job , saved a life.

 

[rumblefish360]

Again! The news reported something like this just not to long ago. The plane landed on a public road/Hwy. it was actually pretty awesome.

 

[drobertson]

Just imagine looking into your backyard and seeing an airplane.....

 

[Photon440]

Just imagine looking into your backyard and seeing an airplane.....

I had a hot air balloon try to land in my backyard once, until they noticed my horses going crazy so they lifted and set down in the field across the road... Close enough? ;)

 

[Bruzilla]

Great if &/or when you really need it...LOL

looks like it worked for him/them

seems like it would hamper the ability to dead stick {? I'm not a pilot} glide down...
I guess it's only for condition where you can't glide, no engine assist ?

I've seen some video of parachutes & small planes coming down, in the past...
IIRC it looked kind of like a controlled crash somewhat a nose dive thou, parachute holding the tail up/nose down, the one I remember seeing anyway...

Back in 1983, my friends and I were on our way to Daytona Beach one Saturday morning. As we were headed south, the base bird for Guantanamo Bay, a C-131, passed over us while we were on the Buckman Bridge just south of NAS Jacksonville. The plane was spewing smoke from the port engine and there were flames visible. Clay stopped the car and we got out because we thought for sure the pilot was going to put the plane down in the St. John's River near where we were and if he did we were going to go over the side to try to help if we could.

Instead of putting the plane in the water, the pilot decided to extend and try to make a landing back at NAS Jax. He leveled out, flew over the far shore of the river, then banked around to line up for the runway and about 100 yards from the end of the runway the port wing fell away and the plane crashed into the river, breaking into pieces. 14 dead, one survivor, because a pilot decided to press his luck. That's why I'm glad to see this guy did what he did. Yeah, maybe he could have glided to the runway, or he might have run out of airspeed 50 feet from it and died. Better to pop the chute.