In an odd accident, a Cirrus SR20 crash land- ûed near Lexington, Kentucky in March of 2002. ûThe pilots reported losing control in IMC but ûcouldn’t deploy the CAPS.

When Cirrus unveiled the prototype that would become the SR20 at Oshkosh in 1994, the airplane looked like just another plastic homebuilt, albeit one that was more refined. But it had a twist. Amidst skepticism bordering on derision, Cirrus proposed a radical idea: in the event of an unrecoverable emergency, the entire airplane would have a parachute capable of lowering the aircraft to the ground in one piece, if not gently.

“Never work,” said some critics, “never sell” said others and even many who liked the idea harbored a deep-seated resignation that the FAA would never certify such a bleeding-edge idea. …