Cirrus SR22 Deploys Parachute At The Right Time

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Coming In Clutch

This Cirrus SR22 took off from Carlos Drummond De Andrade Airport with six people on board on March 11, 2023.

The weather at the time was considered fine and the aircraft was still fairly new, being manufactured in 2022. Regardless, the aircraft began descending when it reached a max altitude of 7,000 ft at around 14:35 UTC – just seven minutes after it took off.

After two minutes, the pilot decided to deploy the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), allowing the aircraft to lower itself controllably in the rural terrain east of Belo Horizonte. Fortunately, all six people on board (which included a three-year-old child and a three-day-old baby) were safe and unhurt from the accident.

CAPS is a ballistic parachute recovery system built specifically for Cirrus Aircraft’s SR20, SR22, and SF50 series. It was the first of its kind to be certified by the FAA in 1998 and is still the only aircraft ballistic parachute used as standard equipment by an aviation company.