This is crazy! The airplane accident in Phoenix was caught on a security camera. I have to wonder what caused this crash as it seems the plane just nosedived into the ground.

Since they say that the guy was in the pattern to land, I have to assume that he didn't carry enough speed on the final approach. Not enough speed is very dangerous in any airplane, especially in a Cirrus. The Cirrus has a very critical wing and if you stall one wing at that low of an altitude it's almost completely unrecoverable. In one of the reports they say the door was open, which may or may not be the case, but it would not cause the accident. I think it just looked open when he hit the ground. I am eager to read the NTSB report on this accident when it comes out.

I got some pictures on my iPhone from the tv, and I'll try to find the new video. In the meantime there are videos on the news sites.

May the pilot rest in peace.

EDIT: Here is the latest video on Fox News that has footage of the crash:

http://video.foxnews.com/#/v/4532200...ylist_id=86856

Plane Crash at Phoenix Area Airport - Fox News Video - FoxNews.com

Fiery Plane Crash in Phoenix - The Feed - CBS News

Phoenix Plane Crash: Pilot identified, additional details revealed | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | News Headlines - Top Stories

Sorry for the crappy pics.

 

That is awful.

 

No CAPS deployment? The article I read said this occurred on takeoff, so he should have been (in theory) high enough to at least get the chute out in short order. Especially in the SR22, those things move when there is only one soul aboard.

 

It truly is.

There really is nothing the Caps could have done at the airspeed and altitude. If he was in the pattern he was 1,000agl or below. No way a parachute deployment would have done anything. I really think he just did not pay attention to his speed.

 

Yikes! that didn't turn out so well.

 

The frame of the fuel waterfall is haunting... every aviator knows what's going to happen next.

 

An SR22 pilot in Frederick, MD a few years ago pulled it at ~ 700' after taking off and getting disoriented in IMC, which is why I asked. I know what Cirrus says the CAPS deployment envelope is supposed to be, but there are several documented cases where people have pulled it MUCH lower than recommended and it's done it's job.

Too bad it wasn't a factor in this case. RIP.

 

That's amazing. Don't get me wrong, if I were flying a cirrus and something happened, I would probably pull that chute regardless.

 

If you get a little "off" while in IMC, there is also a Blue "wings level" button you could hit prior to chute deployment. Does not sound like that would have helped here, very sad. Something about the Cirrus wing and stall speeds that does not make me comfortable along with the fact that they can't use speed brakes in their wings designs like they have on the Cessna 400.

 

There is an extended discussion about this on the Cirrus owners forum of which I am a member. The pilot reported an open door and was returning to the airport (a Cirrus door cannot be re-opened and latched in flight). It's really not a big deal, and should not be enough of a distraction to cause this accident. A witness on the ground reported smoke coming from the plane. Someone else on the Cirrus forum calculated the airspeed at impact to be about 90 knots based on a digital 28 fps interlaced video recording.

That's about all the facts, there's lots of speculation on the crash from mechanical failure to pilot incapacitation, the latter of which would possibly explain no attempt at using CAPS.