SR22 With Engine Trouble Pulls Chute Monday Evening

An early model SR22 (N34TG, SN #386, file photo below) ran into engine trouble Monday night and the pilot elected to pull the CAPS emergency parachute system to affect a recovery. According to local media sources, the aircraft reported trouble at 2010 local time near Elkin. NC.

Tom Robert Granville (63), of Orlando, FL, was enroute to Spartanburg, NC after a new jersey departure when the powerplant 'made a loud noise and began vibrating and spewing oil onto the windshield.'

Granville was reported to be at 6000 feet when he deployed the chute, which landed in the woods near Still Water Lane off West Mount Herman Church Road, in Elkin.

The pilot was the only person listed on board and after the aircraft reached the ground, he left the scene, and called 911 on his cell-phone, helping to direct emergency personnel to the impact site.

Sheriff Graham Atkinson noted that Granville looked 'OK' and that, “He was up walking around. He was extraordinarily calm for a man who had just survived a plane crash.”

FMI: www.cirrusaircraft.com