Ballistic 'Chute Deployed, Pilot Safe
ANN REALTIME UPDATE
03.19.09 1710 EDT: Cessna spokesman Doug Oliver
has confirmed to ANN that a BRS parachute deployment was used
today to recover the sole-remaining flying Cessna SkyCatcher after
an as-yet undefined flight test criteria resulted in an
"irrecoverable" flight condition.
While the parachute deployment went well, and the landing impact
was said to be "normal," some additional damage occured as the
chute was caught by the wind and dragged the aircraft for an
unknown distance.
A chase plane was in the air with N162CE during the test program
and both the FAA and NTSB are already involved in the
investigation.
Though the pilot has yet to be identified, Oliver
confirmed this pilot is not the same person who bailed out the
first flying prototype last year.
Original Report
1700 EDT: A production-spec Cessna 162
SkyCatcher crashed north of El Dorado, KS Thursday morning, while
on a test flight as part of the planemaker's effort to self-certify
the light-sport aircraft for its anticipated entry into the US
market later this year.
Cessna spokesman Bob Stangarone told The Wichita Eagle the pilot
and sole occupant onboard was able to walk away from
the wreckage (accident aircraft shown above and below)
following deployment of the aircraft's ballistic parachute system.
He was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure and
released.
The accident occurred while the SkyCatcher was undergoing a test
regime that was to include spin testing, though
Stangarone wasn't certain whether the incident was the result
of a spin gone awry.
"We really don't know that for a fact yet," Stangarone said,
adding spin testing was "the last big thing we had" before
releasing the SkyCatcher to the market.
The crash is the second loss of a SkyCatcher prototype in the
aircraft's testing program.
As ANN reported, the first, non-conforming
prototype went down in September 2008 while undergoing spin
testing. In that case, the plane's ballistic parachute failed to
deploy, though the pilot was able to safely bail out of the
aircraft and deploy his personal emergency parachute.
The production-conforming prototype aircraft that crashed
Thursday was equipped with a redesigned vertical stabilizer that
came as a direct result of the September accident.
Cessna asserted that wind tunnel testing with the larger, more
upright vertical stab showed the SkyCatcher to be free of any
unrecoverable spin characteristics.
It is not yet known what impact this latest accident will have
on the SkyCatcher development program, though Stangarone said the
planemaker will obviously need to reconsider the planned delivery
schedule.