Parachute Deployment In Question

Bad news seems to, indeed, be coming in threes.

A Cirrus Design SR20 G2 has gone down about 1 mile North of Lancaster, CA's Fox Field. N526CD, an aircraft known to be used for flight instruction through Gene Hudson Flight Training, went down just before 1400 PST while reportedly conducting takeoffs and landings at Fox.

Two persons aboard are reported dead and photos of the impact site show a pretty thoroughly destroyed airframe with the damage particularly concentrated on the left side of the aircraft (the right wing still appears, largely, intact).

Other photos from the scene suggest that the parachute may have been deployed, but if so, too late to do the aircraft's occupants any good. There appears to be nearly full line stretch on the canopy, and the canopy's position on the ground suggests that it had yet to properly inflate and produce the necessary deceleration.

The manner in which it is laid out on the ground... with the upper section of the canopy more fully pressurized than the bottom, mimics the inflation profile of the canopy in early deployment. However, keep in mind that this effect may also have been instigated by local winds if the canopy was deployed on impact.

Conflicting reports support either theory and it will take expert scrutiny to determine whether the chute was, in fact, deployed in flight or by the forces of impact (quite considerable, in this case). Observations from the area suggest windy conditions might have been an issue (with Santa Ana winds reported to be kicking up), but surface reports indicate only 10 kts on the ground. The aircraft was conducting Touch and Go's and one published report has the aircraft turning upwind to crosswind when the accident occurred but this has not been confirmed by investigators.

Tragically; this is the third fatal accident in a Cirrus in just a few weeks, the first involving a VFR pilot in suspected IFR conditions and another involving collision with terrain in reduced visibility.

ANN will offer updates to this story as they become available.

FMI: www.genehudson.com