Plane containing a couple and a 2-year-old crashed into the woods. A single parachute made all the difference.

A small plane containing a husband, wife, and their 2-year-old daughter took off Friday for Santa Rosa from Shelter Cove Airport in Humboldt County, California. The plane never made it to its destination.

Upon receiving a report of a possible airplane crash nearby Usal Road in Whitethorn around 1:15 p.m., Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputies — joined by deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol, and other first responders — raced to the scene.

First responders scoured the hilly timberland and found an aircraft torn asunder. While the plane was in pieces, the Santa Rosa family was still together. What's more: the child and her 38-year-old parents made off with only minor cuts and scratches.

Five minutes after takeoff, the 2004 Cirrus SR22 single-propeller plane's engine apparently lost power. According to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, the pilot attempted to figure out what killed the engine but quickly realized the "plane's altitude was too low for recovery."

Fortunately for the family, the plane was equipped with a Cirrus Airframe Parachute System.

"It sounded like it was a last-resort effort," Captain Quincy Cromer of the MCSO told the Press Democrat.

This whole-plane ballistic parachute recovery system, which has come standard on Cirrus aircraft since 1998, fires out a canopy attached to the fuselage that slows an ill-fated plane's descent in the interest of preserving its crew.

Sure enough, the CAPS worked for the family Friday, carrying their plane over to a heavily wooded and mountainous area straddling the Mendocino-Humboldt County line. While their descent was slowed, it was not arrested altogether. The plane ultimately crashed upside down onto the forest floor, losing its tail in the process.

Shelter Cove Fire Department, among the local departments that responded to the crash, emphasized that "even with the parachute the parties involved were extremely fortunate to only receive minor injuries."

SCFD also expressed gratitude "to Cal Fire Fortuna ECC, Whale Gulch Volunteer Fire Company, Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue Team, USCG Sector Humboldt Bay, City Ambulance, and the quick acting witnesses who aided in locating the victims."

The MCSO suggested that the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

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