Three lives saved when plane’s parachute deploys near Danbury. Who knew planes now had parachutes? Astonishing, and the plane itself is impressive too.
[Airport administrator] Safranek said the plane was equipped with a rocket-propelled parachute — the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System — that was deployed from the rear of the fuselage when the plane was about 2 miles east of the airport.
“The aircraft is an amazingly advanced aircraft, and it worked exactly as it was supposed to,” Safranek said. “It saved lives in the air — the three — and it saved lives on the ground.”
All of which is absolutely whizz bang stuff, but the article mentions “speculation” that the plane crashed because it ran out of gas. If that was the case, it fits neatly in with other accidents involving similarly modern technological gadgets – users become so dependent upon them or so relaxed by their presence that they forget common sense things like checking their fuel gauge, driving slowly in snowstorms even with ABS or, as in the recent case of a navy ship that ran aground, actually reading a chart. Beware.