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Before the assumption gets cast in bronze that a BRS is a marketing
tool, I think there are a few other things to consider:
1. Pilot incapacitation may be rare but the prototypical Evolution
pilot is probably in the higher risk category. As someone completing 6
decades at the end of this week, I have had occasion to consider the
issue. My wife has tried valiantly to learn how to fly a 172 but the
result has been mixed and the process excrutiating. While I do not
expect to drop dead on my next flight, that is a possibility that I
cannot prudently ignore. I also note that pilot incapacitation
accidents are generally very hard to identify as such so we don't
actually know what their frequency is. The propjet crash in Portland
recently seems at least to suggest that possibility.
2. Land vs. pull the handle desicision depend a lot on terrain. If you
live in Nebraska, it's hard to imagine pulling the cord. On the other
hand, there are areas all around where I live where I would rate the
chances of surviving an engine failure with no other problem as slim to
nil. Check out a good bit of Idaho, for example. I can easily see
gliding down from altitude looking for a reasonable place to try to
stick it, not finding one and pulling the cord at the last minute.
3. Airframe damage can cause the airplane to be controllable at 160
kts. but not at slower speeds. Don't think I would want to try a crash
landing at 140.
4. Airspeed in a spin is usually less than 160. Don't know how
reliable the BRS deployment is in a spin but I would sure try if I
couldn't recover from the spin. That's what the test pilots do.
5. IMC and disoriented? Could be instrument failure or brain failure.
Doesn't matter. How about the pacific northwest is fogged in (it
happens) and your choice is the cord or a CAT IIIB+ approach in a CAT1
airplane with a CAT1- pilot?
6. No icing reports and you went despite the airmet because the airmet
is there from November to April and it doesn't help much. Ice starts to
build up. You are over bad terrain. You reverse course and it has
closed in behind you. OOPS!
7. Over downtown LA at rush hour and lose the engine. Try the freeway?
A dry river bed? Don't think so.
8. Even paranoids can have real enemies and even marketing
considerations can have real benefits. I spent a fair bit of time
sitting on an ejection seat. The way it worked (back in those days) was
you pulled the handle and two cakes of dynamite went off a few inches
under your backside with enough force to shoot you a hundred feet or so
above wherever you had just been. If there was any separation between
your backside and the seat, you were sure to shatter whatever that bone
is at the bottom end of your spine. Even if you did it completely
right, there was a very good chance of a serious back injury. Total
destruction of the a/c was 100% assured and serious collateral damage on
the ground was not excluded. I never had to use it but I can't tell you
how great a comfort it was to me that it was there. Any good pilot
always knows what s/he is going to do if ................ whatever.
When I don't have an answer for that question, it makes me distinctly
nervous and testy. I think if I had a BRS, it would pay for itself in
peace of mind even if it was never used.
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