{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"410 Cirrus SR22 Safety: Stabilized Approaches and Go-Around Accident Lessons","description":" Max talks with Mark Waddell of the Cirrus Owner and Pilots Association (COPA) about how Cirrus pilots can reduce accidents by focusing on the places where the accident chain most often begins: unstable approaches, indecisive go-arounds, and delayed choices during power-loss events. They discuss what pilots are doing in the cockpit that turns routine flights into incidents, and what specific habits and training standards reduce that risk. Mark explains that 2025 included eight fatal Cirrus accidents and twelve CAPS saves. Mark argues that the big safety wins come from addressing repeatable patterns: how pilots manage energy on final, how quickly they reject a bad approach, and how early they commit to the safest outcome when the engine isn\u2019t reliable. A major theme is decisiveness in abnormal situations, especially anything involving power. Mark walks through how power-loss or engine-roughness events can seduce pilots into flying a normal pattern and hoping things stabilize. That often burns altitude and distance in exchange for false comfort. The operational hazard is simple: the moment a pilot realizes the runway is no longer assured, they\u2019re already low, already out of options, and now forced into rushed decisions. Mark emphasizes that when the engine is uncertain, \u201cnormal\u201d is the enemy. The airplane doesn\u2019t care that the pattern looked tidy; it only cares whether you end up with a survivable outcome. This ties directly into CAPS decision-making. Mark\u2019s message is not \u201cCAPS solves everything,\u201d but rather that pilots need an explicit decision framework that prevents them from negotiating with themselves while altitude evaporates. He discusses the idea of a CAPS hard deck\u2014an altitude by which, if a pilot is not certain of a safe landing outcome, they commit to pulling the handle. The point of a hard deck isn\u2019t to remove judgment; it\u2019s to remove hesitation. If you wait until you\u2019re low, you\u2019ve converted a controlled, survivable deployment into a desperate last-second attempt. In that sense, the hard deck is less about the parachute and more about training the pilot\u2019s brain to act early enough for any option to work. From emergency decisions, the discussion moves to the most universal risk zone: landing and go-around. Mark notes that a large share of reportable events occur during landing or during an attempted go-around. That makes this phase-of-flight a high-leverage target for training, standards, and self-discipline. The trap is that approaches feel \u201cfixable\u201d until they suddenly aren\u2019t. Pilots often rationalize small deviations\u2014slightly fast, slightly high, slightly untrimmed\u2014because they believe they can correct it in the last few hundred feet. But each late correction is an energy trade, and those trades frequently end with excessive speed over the threshold, a flat touchdown, a bounce, or a rushed go-around. They get specific about the \u201cflat landing\u201d pattern. Mark challenges a common cultural habit: equating \u201csmooth\u201d with \u201cgood.\u201d In many airplanes\u2014and especially in a fast, slick airplane\u2014chasing smoothness can encourage a flatter attitude and higher speed, which increases the chances of touching down on the nose gear or loading it too early. That can lead to nose-gear abuse, shimmy events, prop strikes, and expensive engine tear-downs. Max reinforces the technique side: trimming matters. If pilots are muscling the airplane through configuration changes and final approach, they\u2019re behind the airplane before the flare even begins. A well-trimmed airplane is easier to slow, easier to pitch correctly, and easier to land in the right attitude without forcing it onto the runway. Go-arounds get treated as a primary skill, not a backup plan. Mark describes why late go-arounds are especially dangerous: if a pilot waits until a bounce or a deep, unstable touchdown attempt, the airplane is close to the ground, slow, and in a configuration that can punish abrupt changes. The go-around itself is not complicated, but it requires coordinated execution: power comes in, right rudder counters yaw, pitch is managed to prevent an excessive nose-up attitude, and configuration changes are timed rather than rushed. A common failure mode is trying to do everything at once\u2014adding power, retracting flaps too aggressively, and pitching up\u2014creating a stall-prone situation at the worst possible altitude. Mark\u2019s guidance pushes pilots toward objective gates: if the approach isn\u2019t stable by a defined point, you go around\u2014period. The pilots who get into trouble tend to have elastic standards. They keep moving the goalposts because they want the landing to work. Mark argues that consistency is the cure: standardized stabilized-approach criteria, practiced go-arounds that feel routine, and an acceptance that a go-around is not a failure, it\u2019s good judgment. They also address proficiency and recency, emphasizing that safe performance is less about total hours and more about how frequently a pilot is flying and practicing the right skills. Mark points out that annual hours correlate strongly with landing outcomes; low annual utilization can create a false sense of competence because the pilot has experience, but not recent repetition. The solution isn\u2019t heroic flying\u2014it\u2019s structured practice: recurring instruction, intentional go-around reps, and consistent standards that prevent \u201cdrift\u201d back into sloppy technique. To make those standards stick, Mark advocates data-driven debriefing. Instead of relying on subjective feel\u2014\u201cthat was fine\u201d\u2014pilots can use post-flight tools, such as FlySto and ForeFlight\u2019s Cloud Ahoy, to evaluate approach stability, speed control, glidepath consistency, and touchdown energy. The goal isn\u2019t chasing a score; it\u2019s finding patterns that predict future mistakes. If your data repeatedly shows fast thresholds, unstable vertical paths, or late corrections, you now have something specific to train. Mark\u2019s point is blunt: most pilots don\u2019t need more aviation wisdom; they need feedback that\u2019s objective enough to change behavior. The episode\u2019s bottom line is that Cirrus safety is not about secret techniques. It\u2019s about earlier decisions, tighter standards, and repeated practice in the phases of flight where accidents are born. Nail stabilized approaches, normalize early go-arounds, commit sooner in power-loss scenarios, and use honest debriefing to identify risk trends before they turn into an NTSB report. If you're getting value from this show, please support the show via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or Patreon. Support the Show by buying a Lightspeed ANR Headsets Max has been using only Lightspeed headsets for nearly 25 years! I love their tradeup program that let's you trade in an older Lightspeed headset for a newer model. Start with one of the links below, and Lightspeed will pay a referral fee to support Aviation News Talk. 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Get the Free Aviation News Talk app for iOS or Android. Check out Max\u2019s Online Courses: G1000 VFR, G1000 IFR, and Flying WAAS & GPS Approaches. Find them all at: https:\/\/www.pilotlearning.com\/ Social Media Like Aviation News Talk podcast on Facebook Follow Max on Instagram Follow Max on Twitter Listen to all Aviation News Talk podcasts on YouTube or YouTube Premium "Go Around" song used by permission of Ken Dravis; you can buy his music at kendravis.com If you purchase a product through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. ","author_name":"Aviation News Talk \u2013 Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News","author_url":"http:\/\/aviationnewstalk.com","html":"