A Private Jet with a Parachute

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Editor: Dylan Hennessy

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[xbvalkyriech]

It's basically an ejection seat for the whole plane, not a bad concept for a light aircraft. One last line of defense if an emergency landing isn't possible

[rottiesdad]

I was a parachute rigger in the Army, I'd rather repack a parachute than have my friends scoop me out of plane wreckage.

[rh]

Once you have an emergency, you are now flying the insurance company’s plane. The only thing that matters is keeping everyone safe.

[markkulyas]

A backpack parachute, an ankle fire extinguisher a selfie stick is all I need.

[fToo]

although some aviation analysts suggest that Cirrus pilots are too quick to pull the parachute handle - rather than concentrating on aviating through the problem

[Calbomb]

“We designed a plane that’s not too good at flying, but has parachute.”

[scottellis]

I love how they go from a Cirrus G2 to a single prop Mooney. Quality story telling.

[jimmycline]

If I’m rich enough to afford a private jet I’m damn sure gonna order the parachute option!

[conall]

This is definitely a Kerbal Space Program solution.

[EthanQ]

Cirrus actually recommend and taught people to pull the chute early due to some pilots who thinks they can recover and people who looked down on plane parachute refusing to pull it resulting in much higher fatality in Cirrus plane when they first came out with parachute. Then once people start realizing "oh wait, i'm not Tom Cruise in top gun and can't fly my Cirrus upside down on fire with a wing missing", that's when the fatality dramatically dropped.

[MooseVR]

I think plane parachutes for light aircraft and aircraft as a whole is genius. It saves people and LOTS of money

[do_not_rotateyour_phone]

Airbus: why can't we have ejectable cabin with parachute to save passengers?

Company: live passengers liabilities cost more than dead ones.

[theblobfish]

This system saved the life of a friend of mine. He flew in a KA8 glider and was in final approach when a Ultralight flew into him from behind(ultralights fault, didnt look/do proper flight planning/ was too low ). However, the ultralight was quick to deploy his parachute system and my friends glider sorta hooked into the destroyed ultralight and came down with him on the parachute. Insanely lucky

[plica]

140 deployments of that parachute in 20 yrs? That's 1 deployment every 2 months. I would not feel safe in that plane.

[Jehtblu]

I thought this up as a kid. I asked my dad why they don't just put parachutes on passenger planes. His answer was that it would be too expensive and that the planes frame might not hold up.

[Buddha_the_Pug]

Bear in mind that, at least with the Cirrus shown, pulling the handle guarantees airframe loss. Better than loss of life of course, but consider all options before deploying the chute.

[jamiedriscoll]

Impressive. It went from jet to propeller driven

[TerryKeever]

Didn't know they were available on jets. Several other propeller aircraft had had them installed besides the Cirrus which comes factory installed. Great safety equipment.

[DTWMTX]

Makes the fuselage unserviceable... but you survive!

[marsgal]

You always see Cirrus pilots reach up, touch the handle, and call out "CAPS is available" after takeoff. The orignal motivation was spin recovery but it has really shone after incidents like mid-air collisions.