Cirrus SR-22 ditches off Maui via parachute deployment

[AirDX]

Some pretty cool video from the Coast Guard.  A Cirrus on a ferry flight ran out of gas and ditched off Maui.  Scary part was the parachute looks like it stayed inflated after the aircraft hit the water, and fairly quickly dragged a wing under and flipped the a/c upside down.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/27936350/single-engine-plane-running-out-of-fuel-preparing-to-ditch-off-maui

[stixco1]

Scary video ... glad he is ok !

[Afbrat52]

[sarcasm] I wonder how much it would cost to equip CAP aircraft... [/sarcasm]

[SarDragon]

[sarcasm] I wonder how much it would cost to equip CAP aircraft... [/sarcasm]

Ooh, ooh, my favorite question - Who's going to pay for it?

[Afbrat52]

After looking at the price tags of Cirrus aircraft, it would be cheaper to call up a ground team...   

[sardak]

[sarcasm] I wonder how much it would cost to equip CAP aircraft... [/sarcasm]

You can retrofit 172s and 182s with the same system. http://www.brsaerospace.com/cessna_182_faq.aspx

Mike

[a2capt]

..and eat a chunk of useful load, when combined with the amount of added stuff CAP already has in there.

Someone's aircraft delivery is going to be delayed .. what a waste.

[A.Member]

What the...  Did I read this correctly?  This dude was trying to fly from CA to HI in a SR22?!  That's ~2500 miles or so.   The range of a SR22 is half that.   Article doesn't indicate he was doing a ferry flight and I certainly don't know all the long range tank options but even so he was going to come up way short.  That's stupid.  Am I missing something here? 

[FalconHatTrick]

Early reports are that it was a Ferry flight and the ferry fuel tank valve got stuck in the closed position so the pilot was unable to access that fuel. We'll see as more reports surface.

[a2capt]

Per calculations, the fuel supply was putting the aircraft ~280 miles short, and they typically launch using the ferry fuel tank first.

It's all going to be by word, as I doubt they'll go looking to recover the aircraft and check things out.

[Afbrat52]

Did anyone else hear that the pilot took a selfie video on his way down and called his dad? He looks very level headed in the video.

[PHall]

What the...  Did I read this correctly?  This dude was trying to fly from CA to HI in a SR22?!  That's ~2500 miles or so.   The range of a SR22 is half that.   Article doesn't indicate he was doing a ferry flight and I certainly don't know all the long range tank options but even so he was going to come up way short.  That's stupid.  Am I missing something here?

They ferry planes to and from Hawaii all of the time. There are companies that specialize in the job and have the custom ferry tanks and permits to do the job.
The only unusual thing here is the malfunction of the ferry tank valve.

[lordmonar]

This is not the first time we got to see a ditching on the way to HI.

The CG films most of their activities...and there are a good number of them.

[dbaran]

I was at the USAF/USCG Inland SAR class in Honolulu a week ago.  The CG guys in the class said that they had one ferry pilot that they'd picked up after a crash off of Hawaii three separate times before he retired.

Also, we learned that you want to run out of gas 125 miles or less off the coast so they can send a helo.  Beyond that, you're relying on getting picked up by a ship but you might get a C-130 watching overhead if you're close enough to Hawaii.  For the Cirrus splash, they were hoping he'd get with helicopter range.

Other interesting tidbit - the ditchings are more likely to happen with a plane right out of the factory.  They say that the ones that have been in service longer make it with no problem.  That sort of suggested mechanical surprises are the leading cause of a swim during a ferry flight.

[JeffDG]

What the...  Did I read this correctly?  This dude was trying to fly from CA to HI in a SR22?!  That's ~2500 miles or so.   The range of a SR22 is half that.   Article doesn't indicate he was doing a ferry flight and I certainly don't know all the long range tank options but even so he was going to come up way short.  That's stupid.  Am I missing something here?

They ferry planes to and from Hawaii all of the time. There are companies that specialize in the job and have the custom ferry tanks and permits to do the job.
The only unusual thing here is the malfunction of the ferry tank valve.

There's a fantastic story I read once about a guy who ferried a C-150 or C-152 from the US to South Africa, including a leg from Newfoundland to the Azores.

Edit:  found the story...http://www.cessna150-152.com/transatlantic.htm