[imagesource: CBS Denver / AP]
On Wednesday, two planes collided midair near Denver, Colorado.
Luckily, no one was injured, thanks to a nifty parachute system in one plane and a pilot making a safe landing in the other, even while his plane had a whole chunk missing from the body of the plane (that image above).
Both planes were preparing to land when they collided over Cherry Creek State Park, and it is not yet known which pilot was responsible – as per CNN.
The one plane, a Cirrus SR22 that came equipped with what’s known as a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), managed to drift slowly to the ground allowing the two pilots inside to walk away safely.
The other plane, a small cargo turboprop metroliner, landed at a nearby airport with significant damage.
At first, the lone pilot inside this plane thought one of his engines had failed, unaware that, actually, part of the fuselage of the plane was taken out.
Besides the image above, here’s another of the metroliner:
All the information is as per the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, Deputy John Bartmann:
“You expect something a lot worse. This was amazing,” Bartmann said.
“We’ve had several plane crashes in our jurisdiction. Never have we seen a parachute be deployed and bring the plane down safely.”
Bartmann told USA TODAY that he had the worst-case scenario in his mind when he heard that two planes had collided.
But he was surprised, upon arriving at the scene, to see everyone safe and to see the pilot of the metroliner talking on his phone:
“I think miraculous is a good word,” Bartmaan said. “It’s ‘winning the lottery’ kind of luck.”
Here’s some footage released by Denver 7 News of the Cirrus SR22 landing on Twitter:
Video sent to us by Alan Rodriguez shows the Cirrus SR-22 that crashed floating down to the ground with help of a parachute. We have new statements from the NTSB, FAA and Key Lime Air in our updated story: https://t.co/euc54B2nJM pic.twitter.com/vfl1DAcOXP
— Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) May 12, 2021
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to investigate.
Via Fox News Denver, aviation experts agree that the parachute was essential for the survival of the two people in the Cirrus SR22:
“The safety equipment today really stood up to the test,” said John Bartolic, a commercial pilot and flight instructor who specializes in Cirrus planes.
“For aviation to have something like that happen and have no fatalities, I’m in awe,” Bartolic continued.
A Cirrus pilot website reports that prior to Wednesday, CAPS has been deployed at least 102 times and saved at least 207 lives.
[sources:cnn&usatoday&foxdenver]
