How a bulletproof parachute saved parents and a 2-year-old girl from dying in a California plane crash by slowing the plane to 0 mph in just eight seconds
Video of a small four-seat plane gliding to safety while tending its large emergency parachute has impressed onlookers raising questions about how the life-saving device really works.
A family of three β Artem Konokuk, 38, his partner and two-year-old daughter β landed in the woods of Whitehorn, California, on March 8, after Konokuk realized his training flight was not cleared to clear a steep tree. lined hill.
The 20-year-old aircraft, a Cirrus SR22, was equipped with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS): a giant parachute made of bulletproof Kevlar, capable of floating an entire single-engine craft safely to Earth.
Once started, CAPS launches its parachute aft at high speed from the top of the craft, pulled by a ‘rocket engine’ powered by solid chemical fuel.
The young Konokuk family escaped with only cuts and bruises, which the captain of the nearby Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office described as “a miracle.”
Video of a small four-seat plane gliding to safety while tending its large emergency parachute has impressed onlookers raising questions about how the life-saving device really works
Cirrus’ CAPS is described as a whole-aircraft emergency recovery parachute system.
During an in-flight emergency, the pilot or co-pilot can deploy the solid-fuel rocket from a hidden compartment where the parachute is stowed, with just a push of the lever.
The rocket quickly pulls the parachute back from the rear of the aircraft, deploying the system’s 65-foot-diameter canopy in seconds.
The fabric of the parachute’s canopy is all Kevlar (like body armor) and nylon, “woven to military specifications,” including “yarn count, yarn twist, weave type and finish.”
One part, a fabric buffer, uses Teflon “to ensure good aging properties,” the company notes β a crucial design consideration for emergency equipment that can remain packaged and unused for long periods.
The family of three aboard this light Cirrus SR22 aircraft escaped with only a few cuts and bruises when their parachute deployed over California last Friday
Above, a diagram from the Cirrus CAPS manual shows the packaged and unfolded components of the parachute system assembly and the location of the line cutters
The embedded CAPS aircraft parachute and harness straps stow within the fuselage or body of the aircraft. Eight seconds after initial deployment, components known as ‘reefing line cutters’ reorient the parachute’s relationship to the aircraft
Cirrus Aircraft safety literature says the parachute can reduce the aircraft’s forward speed to zero in just eight seconds, preventing not only a ground crash but also potentially collisions with vertical surfaces such as cliffs or buildings.
The embedded CAPS aircraft parachute and harness straps stow within the fuselage or body of the aircraft.
Eight seconds after initial deployment, components known as “reefing line cutters” reorient the parachute’s relationship with the aircraft.
The line cutters bring the aircraft to the horizontal position under the parachute, from the initial ‘nose low position’ just after CAPS deployment.
The rocket motor (top left) carries the parachute rearward from the rear of the aircraft and pulls the aircraft’s embedded CAPS harness straps (right) out of the fuselage or body. Within seconds, the 20-meter diameter canopy unfolds, controlling the aircraft’s descent rate
The Cirrus SR22 has an emergency recovery parachute system for the entire aircraft, called the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). During an in-flight emergency, the pilot can deploy a solid-fuel rocket from a hatch covering a hidden compartment where the parachute is stored.
The shift keeps passengers right side up for a safer emergency landing, as opposed to a slow but head-on collision with the ground below.
This time last year, March 2023, 253 survivors were returned to their families thanks to the company’s innovative rocket launch parachute.
Cirrus has been installing parachutes for its four-seat SR22s since 1998, when it first partnered with Minnesota-based inventor Boris Popov, creator of the ballistic aircraft parachute.
βThese are usually worst-case scenarios,β Capt. Quincy Cromer of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said of the incident.
“The fact that they only had minor scratches and abrasions is a miracle.”
According to the report, numerous first responders arrived at the scene of the wilderness accident on Friday the Los Angeles Timesincluding the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, Southern Humboldt Tech Rescue and multiple local fire departments.
Rescuers watched in amazement as their single-engine plane floated through a valley, dangling helplessly under the emergency parachute, before coming to rest in a tree.
The four-seater plane came to rest in a tree before crashing upside down to Earth
The frame of the light aircraft was torn open by the impact despite the parachute
The Konokuk family was on a 170-mile trip up the coast to Santa Rosa, where they own a home, when the SR22’s sole engine failed at 1:15 p.m. Friday.
“The pilot began to investigate why the aircraft was losing engine power,” local sheriffs noted in their statement, “but noticed that the aircraft’s altitude was too low to recover.”
‘At this point the pilot deployed the aircraft’s Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), slowing the aircraft’s descent.’
But the family’s ordeal was far from over as the plane then came to rest high in the branches of a tree, 100 feet above the forest floor.
βThe parachute carried the plane until it ultimately struck trees in a heavily wooded area on Yellow Road in Whitethorn,β local sheriffs said.
Rescuers feared the worst as they made their way through the dense forest to reach the family
Somehow the family managed to scramble away and climb the tree without causing the balanced Cirrus plane to fall on top of itself.
Rescuers scrambled through the woods and discovered the family nursing their injuries safely on the ground β while the 2,200-pound plane was now twisted metal, crumpled, torn open and upside down on the ground next to them.
The tail was completely detached and the life-saving parachute was still in the canopy above.
Dozens of residents reported the accident to local police, some also posting what they knew on social media.
‘This happened right behind my parents’ house, about 70 meters away!’ wrote Amy Arnesen McOmber on Facebook.
“The plane crashed on its own in the green belt behind their house that we used to call the pipeline path.”
Cirrus Aircraft co-founder Alan Klapmeier first determined to develop a whole-plane parachute after surviving a mid-air collision in 1985.
Klapmeier was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame ten years ago in recognition of his efforts.
DailyMail.com has contacted Cirrus Aircraft offices across the country, as well as the company’s director of air safety, Chris Glaeser, and its chief engineer, Paul Johnston.