Klapmeier said he believes Cirrus aircraft are safe but he also acknowledged that the full airplane parachute might give pilots the confidence to fly in conditions that would otherwise keep them on the ground. However, he said, the same could be said for any number of other safety innovations like TAWS or cockpit weather and pilots are always weighing the risks of flight. “We will make tradeoffs,” he said. Klapmeier said that because his company does stress safety as a selling point, he acknowledges that makes Cirrus crashes more likely to attract attention. Twice, he said, there have been spates of accidents over relatively short periods of time that have raised the question of the airplanes’ safety. It’s also fair to say that parachute deployments get much more attention than the safe emergency landings of other types of aircraft. While safety is an important issue, it’s no less important to boat builders and snowmobile manufacturers, neither of which seem to come under the media spotlight when one of their products is in an accident. “Accidents are going to happen,” he said. “But we shouldn’t be focusing on safety to the point that we scare people away from the industry.”
…Safety’s Important, But
Key Takeaways:
- Klapmeier acknowledges that while Cirrus aircraft are safe, their full-airplane parachute *may* encourage pilots to fly in riskier conditions, a trade-off common with many safety innovations.
- He notes that Cirrus crashes and parachute deployments attract disproportionate media attention compared to other industries, partly because the company stresses safety as a selling point.
- Klapmeier believes that while accidents are inevitable, an excessive focus on safety concerns should not deter people from participating in the aviation industry.
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