Cirrus owns the rocket design and rigs, packs and ships the parachutes. Interestingly, BRS doesn’t own an STC for the system they build, but we’re told this could change and may simplify maintenance procedures. The CAPS falls under the Type Certificate of every certified SR20 and SR22. To date, there have been close to 40 CAPS deployments, according to a running tally kept by the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association. Within seconds, the parachute canopy inflates, controlling the aircraft to a safe rate of descent. As the rocket carries the parachute rearward from the back of the fuselage, the embedded airframe harness straps release from the fuselage. The parachute is connected to an extraction harness that’s driven by a solid propellant rocket motor that’s roughly the size of an aerosal paint can.Īs for pilot interaction, it’s supposed to be a simple concept-pulling the parachute handle in the headliner deploys the solid-fuel rocket out of the hatch that covers the concealed compartment where the parachute is stored. In a nutshell, the CAPS, made by BRS Ballistic Recovery Systems for Cirrus, consists of a 51- square-foot packed parachute that’s installed mid-fuselage in a storage bay. He wanted the original SR20 to have a life-saving device for such an emergency or any other situation where a pilot loses control of the airplane. The airframe parachute that’s part of every certificated Cirrus is courtesy of Cirrus Design co-founder Alan Klapmeier, who lived to tell about his own midair collision early in his flying career.
During our research, we discovered that all repacks aren’t created equally. In this article, we’ll take a look at this major service event, including the mandatory repack requirement and what you should expect for costs. This should be taken into consideration when negotiating the sale price and if you pull the trigger on an airplane that needs the repack, you should know what you’re getting into first. This work is expensive, requires considerable down time and can only be accomplished by select and highly specialized shops. All rights reserved.Cirrus owners rave about having the CAPS parachute system as the ultimate safety backup, but if you’re shopping for a used Cirrus, know this: Many used airframes are coming up on the required 10-year parachute repack cycle. We also have a factory service center here so over the course of the last five years we’ve expanded to four buildings right here on the McGhee Tyson airport, and we keep growing,” he said.Ĭopyright 2021 WVLT. “People from all over the world, from more than 60 countries throughout the entire world, come right here to Knoxville, Tennessee, to pick up their aircraft, they receive training here at the Vision Center, whether in their SR, or in their Vision Jet. Kowalski said every customer who buys one of its planes comes through the Knoxville Cirrus Aircraft location to train and fly home in their aircraft. Over the past two decades have been returned safely to their families, because of the airframe parachute system,” added Kowalski. “We’re so thankful and grateful that everyone yesterday involved was able to return safely home to their families, but you know Cirrus aircraft has been doing this for more than 20 years every airplane we’ve ever built comes standard with a whole airframe parachute system. Two people inside the SR22 survived the crash Wednesday without injuries.
When that handle is pulled a whole airframe parachute is deployed, so a rocket deploys, and it pulls a parachute out of the back of the aircraft, and then the chute deploys, and then it floats down to the ground,” said Kowalski. Let me explain how the system works, so inside the aircraft, there’s a red handle above you and either the pilot or a passenger, if needed, can pull that handle. “From day one, a whole airframe parachute system was going to be integrated into the aircraft. Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Ben Kowalski, said safety is the company’s top priority and that all Cirrus aircraft are equipped with its Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) as a standard safety feature. but has its Customer Experience Center in East Tennessee next to McGhee Tyson Airport. “I thought for sure they weren’t going to make it out of there.”Ĭirrus Aircraft has its headquarters in Duluth, Minn. “I thought, ‘Is it somebody just jumping out of a plane?’ And then I realized the parachute was attached to a plane,” Shelly Whitehead, a witness recalled to CBS4.
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