Pilot flying SR-22 aircraft reported pilot seat malfunction.

Date: 2022-08 · Aircraft: SR22 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control|ground-event-encounter-aircraft

Synopsis

Pilot flying SR-22 aircraft reported pilot seat malfunction.

Narrative

Flying IFR ZZZ1 to ZZZ. Extra attention was paid to the seat being secure as Aircraft X has had previous incidents where the seat all of a sudden releases; typically while holding the brakes. Written up by me (seat flew back during run up) and then by Person A on [later date]. After arriving at ZZZ; I entered the ramp area. After entering; I'd originally turned towards a wider alley between the jets to get to the overflow grass parking. Ramp Controller asked me to stop and turn back to go down a narrower alley. ZZZ Operations Supervisor later indicated that this was against SOP. ZZZ Supervisor wrote this in his report. This narrower alley provided about 3 feet of clearance between wing tips and parked jets; which was safe but tight. While maneuvering to clear the last jet; I had to make a 20 degree turn to provide safe wingtip clearance. While using the toe brakes to turn (given the extremely low speed); the seat explosively flew back and the aircraft veered to the left. I was able to slouch down in the seat and get control of the aircraft with the tips of my toes (seat went all the way back). Doing this; I was able to turn the aircraft back towards the center of the alley but not before the wing tip light made contact with the landing gear door of a parked Challenger jet. I asked the non-pilot passenger to hold the brakes while I got control of my seat. After securing the seat; it flew back a second time. I shut down the aircraft and inspected the damage. The Challenger had a 2 inch scratch on the landing gear door and the acrylic bulb housing on the Cirrus was damaged. A 1 inch crack in the paint was also noted behind the wingtip light. The aircraft was then secured. ZZZ Operations notified and an incident report filed. ZZZ Operations notified the aircraft operator. I was able to reproduce the issue with the seat multiple times; specifically when the seat was on the third detent. I found that the seat appeared secured when on the front most detent which is the position the aircraft was eventually ferried back to ZZZ1. I notified Operations; discussed; and made a game plan to return the aircraft to ZZZ1. I flew the aircraft back IFR to ZZZ1 with the seat in the front detent. After exiting the runway and using toe brakes (low speed) to turn off; the seat explosively came back again with the aircraft swerving to the left. This was from the front detent. After resetting the seat; I carefully taxiied the aircraft back to the hangar and notified Operations. While this clearly was not a good outcome; a worse outcome could have occurred if the seat came back during a critical phase of flight like takeoff.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.