It will be properly recognized as a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) “save” but the occupants of an SR22 in California more accurately owe their lives to the heroics of a state highway patrol member and a couple of bystanders. The California Highway Patrol member, identified in a news release as Officer Ayala, had a motorist pulled over on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara last week when he saw the plane come down under the CAPS canopy. “Abandoning the stop, Officer Ayala raced to the scene, jumped a chain-link fence and found the injured pilot crawling from the burning aircraft,” CHP wrote. “As fire spread, he pulled the pilot to safety just moments before the plane exploded.”
The passenger had already been helped from the wreck by a couple of bystanders. Both of the occupants were taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. “Great job, Officer Ayala!” CHP said in its statement, adding that because of his “bravery and quick action, lives were saved that day.” It’s not clear what prompted the pilot to pull the parachute.
