Fly with me.
Maybe not. Especially if the pilot is a novice in the cockpit of a Cirrus SR22 or SR20, two planes marketed to Baltimore and Washington residents that crashed at least 40 times in the last six years.
And a new federal report suggests that pilots should log in more flying hours before they attempt to fly these planes, especially in light of a crash last year that killed New York Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle. Lidle did not have 20 flight hours in his Cirrus SR20 aircraft, the amount most flight insurers require, according to a new report published by the National Transportation Safety Board. Lidle also was not trained by a Cirrus qualified teacher, the board said.
“The avionics [navigation tools] in the aircraft are very sophisticated, they are easy to use if you know what you are doing. If you don?t know what you are doing, it?s impossible to use,” said John Sweeney, the regional manager of Falcon Insurance Agency Northeast Inc. in Frederick.
Despite at least 42 deaths involving these planes, the company continues to market the aircraft as if they are as easy to drive as a car. “Consider making your next set of wheels a new pair of wings,” stated a brochure for the $350,000 single-engine Cirrus SR-22 plane mailed to Maryland residents.
An analysis by the Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune published in 2003 questioned the safety of the plane.”Cirrus?s accident rate is 33 percent above the norm and its fatality rate is three times that of most planes in its category,” the report found.
Both Cirrus models have been involved in more than 40 incidents since 2001 ? including one involving a New Jersey man in Edgewater this July.
New information was released on one of Cirrus?s most high-profile incidents, the crash that killed Lidle.
But Cirrus Design continues to tout the safety features of its aircraft, which include energy-absorbing seats, a ballistic parachute system and four-point harness restraint system.
A model of the Cirrus SR-20 was involved in a crash in Edgewater this summer. The pilot, Ralph Dilks, a New Jersey man, died of his injuries the following week.
“Absolutely we are upset, we are concerned. We are frustrated,” Bill King, vice president of business administration for Minnesota-based Cirrus Design told The Examiner in a previous interview. “One accident is too many.”
Accidents and Deaths in Cirrus Aircrafts
» The Cirrus SR-22: about 40 accidents since 2001, with at least 27 deaths.
» The Cirrus SR-20: about 20 accidents, with at least 15 deaths.
Source: National Transportation Safety Board
