Cirrus Parachute

[Texastaildragger]

Call me crazy, but I don't see the advantage of a chute. Unless you have a wing come off why pull it and lose control of your bird. Maybe it's from being taught by an Ag pilot to fly it all the way in.
After reading multiple accident reports where the pilot ( in my opinion ) could have set it down, but instead put their faith in the prevailing wind., I don't understand.
Where am I going wrong?
Admittedly I fly mainly in western Texas where you can land practically anywhere

 

[Jim Logajan]

I should have used cost/ benefit. Didn't mean to imply it was useless.

When flying overland a chute should be far cheaper than a second engine while presumably providing similar safe "outs." At least for the passengers. A second engine doesn't help in a midair collision, while a chute doesn't help in an engine failure over water.

Try to draw up an attack (or threat) tree for a twin and a chute equipped single and compare the outcomes for various branches.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Actually it is very close to true.

You are going to have to actually produce statistics of your own because others have gone through the NTSB accident records and nothing in them supports the assertion you made - nor the opposite assertion. In fact it doesn't appear to matter whether the plane flips since initial survival rates are good (about 88%,) though could be better.

The source for the above comes from the following web site; myths 3, 5, and 6 are probably most relevant to the flipping issue:

http://www.equipped.com/ditchingmyths.htm

 

[Jim Logajan]

Most of the folks who pulled screwed the pooch on their own.

NTSB stats suggest most accidents have a probable cause involving pilot error. I'm not sure why that fact has any bearing on having a chute. All I can think it means is that your underlying philosophy is that pilots who make potentially fatal mistakes shouldn't be allowed to survive their mistakes?