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The insurance companies apparently want pilots to pull the CAPS rather than try to dead stick it. That’s what I was told when I got checked out in the SR22 by t

The insurance companies apparently want pilots to pull the CAPS rather than try to dead stick it. That’s what I was told when I got checked out in the SR22 by the flight school. They drilled it into me. What happens when blah blah blah? Pull the CAPS. That was the answer to everything.

Scoundreller 7y ago
CAPS sounds great over open water or desert, but not so great over a populated area. At least a non-pilot co-passenger might want to try their luck gliding to open area and then pulling it.
- DuskStar 7y ago
  A 20mph vertical impact into someone's roof really isn't the worst of outcomes.
  - wtallis 7y ago
    Yeah, I don't think it would be any more catastrophic than a large tree crashing into the roof. It'll be messy and require extensive repairs, but you're not going to see a fireball and crater.
  - guidoism 7y ago
    I'm not sure 20mph is correct. The POH says it's the equivalent of being dropped from 10 feet. It's not something I want to experience but it doesn't really sound that bad.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      > The POH says it's the equivalent of being dropped from 10 feet. A fall of 10 feet puts you at ~17 mph when you hit. 20mph is a good approximation.
    - pc86 7y ago
      Post-CAPS deployment descent is about 1700fpm which is 19.3-ish mph.
    - guidoism 7y ago
      Ok. I was wrong.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    I’m thinking more like power lines, or the chute catching a tall building, some industrial facilities may not be great either. Or moving traffic. You’ll go wherever the wind pulls you. And might hit the side of something faster than 20mph before hitting the ground. And hitting a crowd at 20mph.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>The insurance companies apparently want pilots to pull the CAPS rather than try to dead stick it. Well of course they do. CAPS does a pretty good job putting an upper bound on the worst case result. They don't care if you screw your plane up because that's a known cost and you'll pay it back through premiums if you keep flying. Dead sticking it has a very good chance of being no more expensive than a normal landing if you find a runway and not all that expensive if you find a good field or empty highway (i.e. a big towing bill) so of course most pilots would prefer to dead stick. But this comes with a small chance of you crashing into a daycare and maxing out your policy. The insurers do not want this. Most decent pilots with good situational will be able to make the correct call between CAPs and dead sticking it. They're telling you to go CAPS all the time because they have to deal with idiot pilots too. It's the same reason every drivers ed program emphasizes brakes, brakes, brakes, despite the steering wheel being a far better way to avoid many problems. They don't trust you to make the call.
- briandear 7y ago
  One of my friends is a Cirrus platinum instructor, including being type rated for the Vision Jet and even he had a CAPS pull as his first choice versus landing off airport. They call it dead sticking for a reason.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Was it his plane or a company plane? There's a big difference between taking on a little extra risk for your money vs someone else's money.
    - whyaduck 7y ago
      What's "a little extra risk"? A 5% chance you'll die? 1%? 0.1%? Compared to what? Those are actually very large risks when the cost is your life. When the survival rate of using CAPS is an order of magnitude (or more) safer? Use the chute. Not to mention how bad a decision it would be to dead stick if there are passengers on board.

Scoundreller 7y ago

CAPS sounds great over open water or desert, but not so great over a populated area. At least a non-pilot co-passenger might want to try their luck gliding to open area and then pulling it.

DuskStar 7y ago
A 20mph vertical impact into someone's roof really isn't the worst of outcomes.
- wtallis 7y ago
  Yeah, I don't think it would be any more catastrophic than a large tree crashing into the roof. It'll be messy and require extensive repairs, but you're not going to see a fireball and crater.
- guidoism 7y ago
  I'm not sure 20mph is correct. The POH says it's the equivalent of being dropped from 10 feet. It's not something I want to experience but it doesn't really sound that bad.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    > The POH says it's the equivalent of being dropped from 10 feet. A fall of 10 feet puts you at ~17 mph when you hit. 20mph is a good approximation.
  - pc86 7y ago
    Post-CAPS deployment descent is about 1700fpm which is 19.3-ish mph.
  - guidoism 7y ago
    Ok. I was wrong.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  I’m thinking more like power lines, or the chute catching a tall building, some industrial facilities may not be great either. Or moving traffic. You’ll go wherever the wind pulls you. And might hit the side of something faster than 20mph before hitting the ground. And hitting a crowd at 20mph.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

>The insurance companies apparently want pilots to pull the CAPS rather than try to dead stick it. Well of course they do. CAPS does a pretty good job putting an upper bound on the worst case result. They don't care if you screw your plane up because that's a known cost and you'll pay it back through premiums if you keep flying. Dead sticking it has a very good chance of being no more expensive than a normal landing if you find a runway and not all that expensive if you find a good field or empty highway (i.e. a big towing bill) so of course most pilots would prefer to dead stick. But this comes with a small chance of you crashing into a daycare and maxing out your policy. The insurers do not want this. Most decent pilots with good situational will be able to make the correct call between CAPs and dead sticking it. They're telling you to go CAPS all the time because they have to deal with idiot pilots too. It's the same reason every drivers ed program emphasizes brakes, brakes, brakes, despite the steering wheel being a far better way to avoid many problems. They don't trust you to make the call.

briandear 7y ago
One of my friends is a Cirrus platinum instructor, including being type rated for the Vision Jet and even he had a CAPS pull as his first choice versus landing off airport. They call it dead sticking for a reason.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Was it his plane or a company plane? There's a big difference between taking on a little extra risk for your money vs someone else's money.
  - whyaduck 7y ago
    What's "a little extra risk"? A 5% chance you'll die? 1%? 0.1%? Compared to what? Those are actually very large risks when the cost is your life. When the survival rate of using CAPS is an order of magnitude (or more) safer? Use the chute. Not to mention how bad a decision it would be to dead stick if there are passengers on board.