CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) — Last month, we saw three people walk away unharmed after two planes collided in midair over Cherry Creek State Park.
One of those planes was a Cirrus SR22, a small plane equipped with an emergency parachute that may have saved the lives of the pilot and passenger inside of it.
FOX31 got inside one of those planes Saturday to learn about the safety mechanisms instructors are training new pilots on.
Independence Aviation Instructor Pilot Angel Rosado took our crew through a 100-point pre-flight inspection and explained how to deploy the emergency parachute. Watch video below:
“In fact, we train all of our student pilots to make sure that they know how to train their passengers,” Rosado said. “It really takes only 30 seconds to a minute to teach a passenger how to use this thing.”
Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association reports there have been 104 saves with 212 survivors in aircrafts equipped with the cirrus airframe parachute system since May.
“It will easy punch and pierce through the back of the airplane, and it shoots upward over the tail, out comes a giant parachute and brings the entire plane down,” Rosado said.
Aside from the parachute, there’s a single “level” button that’s very similar to commercial airline’s auto pilot system.
“The simpler this is, the more likely you are going to pull it at the heat in the moment,” Rosado said.