A preliminary report on the recent Florida CAPS deployment, in IMC, has been published. Please note that this is a preliminary report and does not constitute the final decision as to the causes leading up to this accident... which, thankfully, harmed no one.

Regardless of what broke/malfunctioned or not, the one over-riding conclusion we can make at this time is that the pilot made a good decision in realizing that he did not know exactly what was happening to his airplane and resorting to the one solution that he had confidence in to avoid a catastrophic accident.

Any landing you can walk away from.....

NTSB Identification: MIA04LA070
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, April 10, 2004 in N. Lauderdale, FL
Aircraft: Cirrus Design Corp. SR22, registration: N916LJ
Injuries: 1 Uninjured. [emphasis added by ANN]

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On April 10, 2004, about 0956 eastern daylight time, a Cirrus Design Corp. SR22, N916LJ, registered to Cellventures of NY, Inc., collided with trees during descent near North Lauderdale, Florida, after the pilot intentionally activated the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight from the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, Florida. The airplane was substantially damaged and the private-rated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated about 6 minutes earlier from the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

The pilot reported no discrepancies either during the preflight inspection nor during the engine run-up before takeoff. He obtained his IFR clearance, and shortly after takeoff the flight encountered IMC at 400 feet mean sea level. While communicating with the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center and climbing at 800 feet-per-minute (FPM), the vertical speed indicator suddenly decreased to 0, then increased to 2,000 FPM, then went back to 0. He also reported there was no turbulence encountered during this time. He advised air traffic control (ATC) that the flight needed to return, and was vectored heading 270 degrees, and cleared to climb to 2,000 feet. At that point, the altimeter began bouncing with very large deflections, then the attitude indicator did not agree with the turn coordinator. He did not activate the alternate static source, and advised the controller that he was "losing gauges" and he would be unable to execute an instrument landing system approach to the departure airport. He then advised the controller that he was going to activate the CAPS, and he did. He noted that following the deployment of the CAPS, the emergency locator transmitter activated, and his door separated. The airplane descended reasonably flat into trees, with most of the damage to the airplane occurring because of the tree contact and not the ground contact. He further reported he did not feel the point of ground contact.

Preliminary examination of the static system of the airplane revealed the lines contained water between the static port openings and the alternate static air valve; the water was retained for analysis. Additionally, testing of the pitot static system from the alternate air source to the altimeter and vertical speed indicator revealed no discrepancies with the instruments. Bench testing of the attitude indicator and turn coordinator revealed no evidence of failure or malfunction.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.cirrusdesign.com, www.cirruspilots.org