Minnesota-Built Cirrus Plane Deploys Chute In Heavily Wooded Mountains

Cirrus Aircraft has called Duluth, Minnesota home since 1994. Cirrus planes are probably most known as the plane that has a parachute. If an emergency happens in the air and the pilot believes he won't be able to land, he can deploy the CAPS system.

CAPS stands for Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. It's been used many times over the years and has saved many people's lives.

Still, even with a parachute there recently was a harrowing ordeal.

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Rescue workers responded to a mutual aid call in Whale Gulch in California. A small aircraft was reported to have crashed in the heavily wooded mountainside.

The Pilot says the engine lost power minutes after takeoff.

The pilot said they lost power about five minutes after takeoff. He tried to restart the engine but it failed. That's when he decided to pull the chute.

Yahoo News! shared that a 38-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman, and a 2-year-old-girl were onboard. All three miraculously survived with only minor injuries.

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Without a parachute, it would have been a lot worse.

Rescue crews credit the parachute system for saving lives, but also add that even with the parachute, it's still amazing that they only had minor injuries.

You can see in the photos the plane ended up getting tangled up in the trees before coming down upside down in the woods.

A witness saw the accident happen and they are being credited with helping find the crash site so quickly. Crews were able to respond quickly enough and even had to extinguish a small fire.

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