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The chute is a novel safety feature but is obviously not a magic cure-all in every circumstance. For any parachute to deploy & work effectively the aircraft would need to be above a certain altitude. The chute could also give the occupants a false sense of security. The SR22 is a nice-looking aircraft but I've seen mixed reviews on it. According to this one it can be tricky to fly & almost impossible to recover from a spin. http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/cirrus-sr20 Quote:
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I'm not saying that happened on this occasion but if this happened at low altitude no chute is going to save you.

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False. The combined KEWR/KLGA/KJFK Class B airspace extends only to 7000 MSL. One should be very careful overflying that airspace that low, but it's perfectly legal.
And the outer tiers hang above parts of the city (not Manhattan), allowing uncontrolled flight, below the Class B, above densely populated and built-up areas (provided pilots observe the rule to remain 1000 feet above the tallest obstacle within 2000 horizontal feet).


Here's a look at part of the NY Terminal Area chart: the built-up areas are in yellow. There are some emergency--landing options in Brooklyn  and Governor's Island, as well as the beaches of Brooklyn and staten Island, and few very tall buildings there, but it's still not very inviting.




The red X shows roughly where the accident occured. According to what I last heard, they left Teterboro (not seen here, but it's at the center of that VOR rose north of Newark Airport), entered the Hudson corridor and flew around the southern tip of Manhattan Island to enter the East River corridor, then turned around at the north end of that box just before the crash.

The media is absurd.  Last night I heard a story on my local news channel about the accident claiming that the SR-20 is a popular "beginners" plane and is often used for training.  Then on the Today show they said that the pilot didnt file a flight plan as if it was a crime.

Seriously, sometimes I just wish the media would do SOME research

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You got it, Sean. Most of the kids in my biology class were making jokes about it and totally disrespecting anything decent about Lidle. I get ridiculed whenever I start speaking about aviation in school anymore because people will think I'm a terrorist knowing so much about planes and how they function, but today I had to keep it in again, grit my teeth and bear it. It's not easy, I know and I almost lost it a few times. Some people just don't get it.

Thus the popular phrase my Homer Simpson; "Ingor-what?"

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'Aye. I have a pair of mittens in case also.

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I'm not suprised that people have absolutely no idea about the intricacies of aviation, and I understand their fear.  After all, they drive to work every day and driving is actually quite dangerous.  Aviation could be 1000x more dangerous than driving if people were as stupid about it as they are about driving.  So correlate their experiences driving with their lack of knowledge about aviation and you get a very real fear of aviation.

How do you overcome it?  I don't know.  I've heard people say they're scared to death of flying in a plane even though they know their chances of dying from a lightning strike is higher.  How do you reason with that?  You can't.  It's an irrational fear brought about by inexperience (not enough time on planes to get used to it and relax) and a lack of confidence (convincing one-self that things will always turn out badly).  In this particular case it isn't a lack of knowledge either (they do know that flying is safe statistically speaking).

Sadly I do think general aviation is a dying hobby.  Just like recreational firearms.  People uninvolved with the hobby believe the risks associated with each justify legislating them out of existance.  It's so easy to make that judgement when it costs you nothing: no lost freedom, no lost joy, just taking something away from someone else.

In fact there are many similarities between the two.  When people die as a result of mistakes or murder then the people clamp down.  When nothing happens for a while people forget, but they never release that clamp.  Then that rare incident occurs again and the clamp gets tighter.  It never loosens.  Each turn is minor, so small that it's hard to justify being outraged by it.  But tighter it gets, and tighter, until there is none left.  My Dad target shoots and, because of the state he lives in, he's not allowed to own the target pistol of his choice.  The clamp has gotten too tight.  Now you can't fly over the Hudson and East rivers without filing a flight plan.  A tighter clamp again.

The terrorists might not have even had an idea like this so the media could just be giving them some new and ways to cause destruction.