A pilot escaped with minor injuries after a Cirrus SR22 caught fire in flight and descended beneath its whole-aircraft parachute before being destroyed by fire once on the ground in Brazil.
The accident occurred on the morning of August 25, 2026, in a wooded area near Serra Azul, about 220 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.
The privately operated aircraft, registered PR-VMI, departed Belo Horizonte’s Pampulha Airport (PLU) at about 07:45 local time for a flight to Bom Despacho. The 29-year-old pilot was the only person aboard.
Video recorded from the ground shows the SR22 descending beneath the parachute while trailing a thick column of smoke. The aircraft rotated beneath the canopy before reaching the trees, where it was consumed by fire.
The pilot remained inside the aircraft throughout the descent. Bystanders helped him escape from the wreckage after it reached the ground.
Brazilian firefighters initially said the aircraft suffered an in-flight engine failure accompanied by an explosion and fire.
“I believe the parachute helped me a lot because, with smoke inside the cabin, it is difficult to control the aircraft,” he said in an interview reported by UOL on August 26.
The pilot suffered minor injuries and was taken first to an emergency care unit in Mateus Leme. He was later flown by helicopter to João XXIII Hospital in Belo Horizonte for further evaluation and released the same day.
Early reports incorrectly said the pilot had ejected from the aircraft. Firefighters later corrected that account after speaking with him and reviewing the video.
CAPS lowers burning SR22 into trees
The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, known as CAPS, uses a rocket to deploy a parachute capable of lowering the entire aircraft during an emergency. Unlike an ejection system, CAPS is designed to bring the airplane and its occupants down together.
Cirrus has installed CAPS as standard equipment on every SR-series aircraft. The company describes it as the first whole-airframe parachute system certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a new-production general aviation aircraft.
The video from Mateus Leme shows the parachute canopy remaining inflated and attached throughout the visible descent.
PR-VMI was a 2013 Cirrus SR22. Brazil’s aircraft registry listed the privately operated airplane in normal status, with no recorded restrictions and an airworthiness verification certificate valid through September 26, 2026.
Brazil’s Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents, known as CENIPA, sent investigators from its Third Regional Service to begin the initial phase of the investigation.