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A small plane (saved by parachute) ditching off Hawaii.

A

auric

pfm Member
Interesting footage of a Cirrus ditching in the Pacific Ocean filmed by a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 Hercules.
On Jan. 26, a Cirrus SR-22 plane on delivery flight across the Pacific from San Francisco Bay area to a customer in Australia, was forced to perform a (successful) ditching off Hawaii, after running out of fuel.

The aircraft was supposed to perform a stopover at the Hawaii, but it failed to reach the destination because of a broken valve, which made the extra fuel tanks carried by the SR-22 to extend its endurance from 5 to 14 hours, unavailable.

The pilot tried to get as closer as possible to a ferry, about 250 from Maui, then deploy the safety parachute and come down to the surface of the sea.

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 supporting the rescue operation filmed the Cirrus as it deployed the chute and came to a somehow gentle impact with the water.

The pilot was recovered about 20 minutes later.
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http://theaviationist.com/2015/01/26/uscg-cirrus-ditching/ :eek::)
 
Thats incredible! Ive never seen a parachute used on a plane like that! Looks like he had his rubber dinghy and sandwiches ready.

If they were filming him in he must have radioed for assistance. I wonder how long it takes to have a spotter plane overhead?
 
The Cirrus BRS has been around for quite a few years now. There are some other deployment videos on YouTube.

A friend of mine used to ferry SEPs back from the USA before BRS was invented. And given the donkey up front in most of these hasn't fallen far form the Nuffield Tractor Engine tree in the last forty years, that amount of single-engine-over-water is not something I'd like to do!
 
DuncanF said:
The Cirrus BRS has been around for quite a few years now. There are some other deployment videos on YouTube.

A friend of mine used to ferry SEPs back from the USA before BRS was invented. And given the donkey up front in most of these hasn't fallen far form the Nuffield Tractor Engine tree in the last forty years, that amount of single-engine-over-water is not something I'd like to do!
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As seen in the comments;
Michael Williams

Sure doesn’t say much for the planes manufacturer. 51 chutes deployed so far. Good thing they put the chutes in.
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I thought the rules were that everything critical was duplicated on a plane. Part of the startup test is that you run the engine, kill the mag, wait for it to falter then switch on #2 mag. If it's good the engine picks up again. If not, no flying that day. In the case of a fuel valve it shouldn't be impossible to double up the fuel line and valves.
 
It looks like the pilot was adjusting the tapes- or is it an automatic levelling system? It pitched nose down then levelled. Delightful to watch- I imagined the life boat crew offering him a choice of drinks from the bar.
 
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