Not to poke at a Cirrus as I think they are very nice airplanes, but I found this incident interesting. This was from AVWeb Business this morning. There must be more to this than the article says, but based on what was reported, I don't see anything wrong with what the pilot did. These are normal private pilot maneuvers we've all done and all continue to do on a regular basis. A spin to the right in a left turn suggest to me it was not coordinated properly. I like the quote about the "airplane beating the systems on this particular day" which goes the the point that there is no substitute for stick and rudder skills.


An "over-confident" salesman intentionally put a Cirrus SR22 into an aggravated stall before he lost control of the airplane and had to pull the parachute handle according to a Australian Transport Safety Bureau report (PDF) released this week. The salesman, also a flight instructor, told investigators he routinely flew a similar flight profile to demonstrate the aerodynamic and electronic safeguards built into the aircraft to prevent an out-of-control spin. On May 10 of this year, the aircraft beat all those systems and ended up in an unrecoverable spin.The chute deployed with about 2,000 feet to spare. The aircraft landed in a flat attitude in the back garden of rural home, with a rattled salesman and two apparently less-than-impressed sales prospects able to walk away uninjured. The Cirrus POH clearly warns that the aircraft is not certified for spins and the only approved recovery is pulling the chute. The salesman said he'd done the same sort of demo at least 30 and as many as 50 times in the previous six months and thus may have been over confident in a successful recovery.

The salesman had already flown with the left seat passenger the day before and the ATSB said the prospect had expressed concerns about the stall-spin characteristics of the aircraft. After reaching about 6,000 feet ASL, the salesman had the prospective buyer try a wings-level stall from which he recovered normally. Then, the salesman said: 'Watch this.'" according to the report. "He selected 50 percent flap, rolled the aircraft into a left turn at about 25 degree angle of bank, reduced the power to idle, and raised the nose of the aircraft," the report says. "As the aircraft approached the stall, the [salesman] pointed to the vertical speed indicator. As he did this, the right wing dropped rapidly and the aircraft entered a spin to the right." The instructor said he tried his normal recovery routine but the aircraft continued through three rotations before he said "I'm sorry" and pulled the chute. The salesman has since promised never to try those maneuvers again and to properly brief his passengers. That was the extent of the safety action called for by the ATSB.

My guess is that his opportunities to repeat the demo might have ended anyway for reasons that would make his promise superfluous.

If he worked as a sales demo pilot for me, he'd have just "graduated" from my employ. I'd be glad he was uninjured and able to take his pink slip.

Two ways to look at this:

Cirrus stinks....can't recover from spin.

Cirrus is awesome.....it saved 3 people from certain death caused by the ever popular "showing-off".

I would have to wait until I saw the data from the FMS before I fired a guy for demonstrating maneuvers that are private pilot maneuvers which should be well within the flight envelope of any single engine aircraft.

I find it interesting that the pilot was not able to recover from a spin and would want to know more about the control input, loading, and flap settings. There was a guy on the Red board named Henning who claimed to have been spinning Cirrus aircraft on a regular basis with no issue. Who knows if that is true or not.

I always thought this is normal? Since in left bank the right wing flies at higher AoA than the left one it will stall first and drop in many cases inverting the aircraft.

There is a video on Youtube showing exactly that in (I think Cessna). The aircraft stalled in left base to final turn and within a second or two was inverted to the right.

Sounds like a slipping stall where it went over the top and into a spin. Completely unexpected as it sounds, he probably put in pro-spin inputs like opposite aileron and put it into the spin. Here's a link to one of Bruce's videos demonstrating the skidding and slipping stalls in his Extra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfwLglH ... OQpyIu1v0A

I always thought this is normal? Since in left bank the right wing flies at higher AoA than the left one it will stall first and drop in many cases inverting the aircraft.

There is a video on Youtube showing exactly that in (I think Cessna). The aircraft stalled in left base to final turn and within a second or two was inverted to the right.

I wonder if the backseat passenger changed the CG enough to make it more difficult?

Especially if he/she is on the heavy side.

I didn't think spins were within the Bonanza flight envelope. You damn sure won't catch me doing them.

I didn't think spins were within the Bonanza flight envelope. You damn sure won't catch me doing them.

and if memory serves me there are several aircraft that are very capable spin aircraft.....when operated in the "correct" category.....and loading in the rear seats changes the CG and category.

Regarding the demo ride the OP is commenting on......Oh, well it was a demo, just not the demo he'd planned for. Chute happens.

From Cirrus: As a footnote, when Cirrus applied for European certification, the authorities there (initially JAA, later EASA), when first evaluating the Cirrus SR20 agreed with the principles of the FAA/ELOS approach but had further questions. A series of spins were performed on their initiative. While not a complete program they reported no unusual characteristics.

There have been many demonstrations of it - not all legal....

I haven't, will not, and don't know how easy it is to recover. The salesman said he'd recovered a minimum of 30 times. There are 150's that have spun in. And that's an easy plane to recover!

The stall characteristics of the SR are super, however.

The test pilot was an idiot for doing it.

I read the article as saying that the demo pilot intentionally spun the aircraft this time or even in the past. I believe he was demonstrating slow flight, straight ahead stalls, and turning stalls. This was part of his demonstration and in this case, the turning stall went into a spin.

Ah - you're right, Geoffrey. I reread it. The description certainly was an "aggravated" stall.

He's maybe unfired, but in need of training - ironically, to include spin recovery training. To be done in an appropriate model, of course.

Note to self... never say that.