→ NOVEMBER 2018 : CIRRUS SR22 TURBO
THE ENGINE “EXPIRED” AT 10,000 MSL (9000 AGL)
I DEPLOYED AT 2000 AGL
WILD RIDE
i DON’T RECOMMEND IT
(I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT)
“You hear a whoosh, then a godawful cracking and creaking and breaking. You feel the new air and sense the new light. It is an extreme deceleration and pitch up. You are forced down into your seat as the nose rises. I remember feeling the whole weight of the plane rise underneath me as the nose swung up.
You linger there for a brief second, slowing, and then the worst thing happens, and the nose drops very violently straight down, and you are looking straight down at the ground rushing up at you, hanging from the shoulder straps, absolutely helpless, in shock, and at the mercy of who knows what.
But you know this is part of the process, and you are strangely calm, just waiting, just waiting. And it’s so quiet except for the creaking and the chute and lines flapping in the wind. And you wait, hanging from your harness, looking straight down. You have long enough to consider what’s under you. A field, a tree, a road.
And then just as suddenly, you feel a change, and hear a change, and the tail drops and you are level, and all will be fine, and it has worked, and you will live. That’s what it’s like.”
