The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office:
On 03-08-2024 at around 1:15 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Deputies were dispatched to a possible airplane crash in the area of Usal Road in Whitethorn, CA.
Deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, CalFire, Southern Humboldt Tech Rescue, and members of the Whale Gulch, Shelter Cover, and Whitethorn Fire Departments responded to assist.
Upon locating the crash site, the three occupants from the airplane were found to have only suffered minor cuts and scratches. The three occupants of the airplane were identified as a 38-year-old male, 38-year-old female, and 2-year-old female all from Santa Rosa, CA.
During the investigation, Sheriff’s Deputies learned the airplane’s engine lost power about five minutes after taking off. The pilot began to troubleshoot why the airplane lost engine power, but had noticed the plane’s altitude was too low for recovery.
At this point, the pilot deployed the airplane’s Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) which slowed the airplane’s decent. The parachute carried the airplane until it ultimately crashed into trees in a heavily wooded area of Yellow Road in Whitethorn, CA.
Deputies initiated the Aircraft Accident protocols and contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who have the primary responsibility for investigating accidents involving civilian aircrafts.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, CalFire, Southern Humboldt Tech Rescue, and members of the Whale Gulch, Shelter Cover, and Whitethorn Fire Departments who quickly responded to assist with this incident.
Whoever said Silence is Golden wasnt listening to a light plane engine while in flight.
Very clever, I will add that one to my list of famous quotes.Should I give you credit as the author?
Seems like these Cirrus CAPS parachutes get used a lot across the country. They are the only small plane company that comes with a ballistic parachute system factory installed. About 1.4% of Cirrus SR series owners have used their CAPS parachutes since 1999 with Cirrus producing their 9000th SR series plane last December. It comes out to 146 parachute deployments with fatalities occurring in about 20 of those parachute deployments. I don’t know the critical incident rates for other small plane manufacturers but 1.4% seems like a lot. Plus a new Cirrus SR22T cost $1 million.