While I usually focus mostly on commercial aviation on the blog, there’s an incredible US Coast Guard video of a plane running out of fuel and ditching near Hawaii, but not before deploying its parachute.
The Cirrus SR-22 was being ferried from the mainland to Hawaii, and from there it was going to continue to Australia, where it was being delivered to a new owner. The plane was equipped with special fuel tanks to make the long journey between the mainland and Hawaii, though the pilot contacted the coast guard three hours out to say he wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it.
The good news is that the Cirrus SR-22 has a parachute, so he could deploy that in hopes of having as safe of a water landing as possible.
Since they had plenty of time to prepare, a C-130 and a Holland America cruise ship were deployed to rescue the plane.
While I don’t think anyone wants to ditch a plane, the footage captured from the C-130 is nothing short of amazing:
The pilot is apparently in good condition, and they’re investigating what went wrong with the fuel tanks.
That must have been quite a show for the people on the cruise ship!
(Tip of the hat to Travel Skills)
Amazing. This would be a great ad for that plane. Can't believe the parachute worked so flawlessly.
(1) Since the buyer hadn't accepted delivery of the plane which was being ferried by Cirrus Aircraft, I think he/she will just have to wait a little bit longer for a new one.
(2) Apparently the problem wasn't so much running out of fuel but the fact that there possibly was "malfunction in the system transferring fuel from the ferry tank to the main tank for use".
Still, pretty awesome that this was an option...
(1) Since the buyer hadn't accepted delivery of the plane which was being ferried by Cirrus Aircraft, I think he/she will just have to wait a little bit longer for a new one.
(2) Apparently the problem wasn't so much running out of fuel but the fact that there possibly was "malfunction in the system transferring fuel from the ferry tank to the main tank for use".
Still, pretty awesome that this was an option for the pilot. Per the SF Gate article, "parachutes on Cirrus planes have been deployed 51 times, saving the lives of 104 people".
regardless of the amount of damage from the landing, deploying the parachute totals the plane. condolences to the buyer
Seems a little to coincidental that the plane parachuted right near a cruise ship. I assume the guy had the plane insured? Now if you had a big mortgage on the plane...... I hope I am not thinking in the wrong direction.
@ Randy -- He was flying for Cirrus to position the plane, so presumably it was insured. And it wasn't a coincidence, where he ditched was planned, since he knew in advance he wouldn't make it.
So sad to see that. The Cirrus is one sexy private plane.
This looks to be the flight path of the plane:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N7YT/history/20150125/1245Z/KTCY/PHOG
Thanks Lucky.
That is one of the most breathtaking videos I've seen lately. So the aircraft is written off or is something salvageable?
@Lucky
Any chance you could get rid of video ads like these Lucky?
"News videos" about the Kardisians or what ever they are called starting to auto-play at high volume is annoying at best in privacy and down embarrassing in public.
Not a flash based, appears to be play in Firefox so perhaps HTML5 based?
http://www.viki.com/player/1032146v?il=en&sl=en&autostart=true&autoplay=true&volume=0
http://v.viki.io/1032146v/1032146v_high_360p_1402141801.mp4?e=1422368734&h=19a30f9fdbf61d5184e0a6c250dba52e
@Lucky
Any chance you could get rid of video ads like these Lucky?
"News videos" about the Kardisians or what ever they are called starting to auto-play at high volume is annoying at best in privacy and down embarrassing in public.
Not a flash based, appears to be play in Firefox so perhaps HTML5 based?
http://www.viki.com/player/1032146v?il=en&sl=en&autostart=true&autoplay=true&volume=0
http://v.viki.io/1032146v/1032146v_high_360p_1402141801.mp4?e=1422368734&h=19a30f9fdbf61d5184e0a6c250dba52e
@ No Name -- They're not supposed to appear, so my apologies. Reporting it to the tech team.