A Virginia pilot and his family are OK after their plane crashed in southwest Des Moines on Saturday morning. Officials said the crash happened around 10 a.m. near Southwest 56th Street and Park Avenue, where a parachute deployed from the plane entangled around a stoplight, and caused damage to electric lines and poles.Des Moines fire officials said the family of four was taking off from the Des Moines International Airport in their private aircraft and heading home to Virginia.Two minutes later, audio from the Des Moines airport air traffic control indicates the plane, experienced some type of mechanical malfunction about 800 to 900 feet in the air before the pilot was able to deploy the airframe parachute, which helped safely float the plane to the ground. The plane was consumed by fire after it landed.All survived the crash and walked away without injury."One of the nice features of this aircraft is it has a chute," said Brian O'Keefe, of the Des Moines Fire Department. "So in an emergency, instead of trying to glide into an open field at a high rate of speed, he was able to use a rocket-assisted parachute, a very large chute that can actually withstand the weight of the people and the aircraft and allowed it to float down." Aircraft experts told KCCI that the parachute in Cirrus four-seater aircrafts, designed in Duluth, Minnesota is a proven safety message."Currently, the Cirrus aircraft parachute system has, I believe this is No. 69 saved (planes), accredited to the parachute in Cirrus aircraft," said Shane Vande Voort, a pilot and owner of Classic Aviation. "That's well over 130 survivors in those parachute deployments."Vande Voort said Cirrus aircrafts are the best-selling in the country, and most four-seaters come with the parachute system installed."At the end of the day, no matter what caused engine failure and what caused this incident, everybody walked away," Vande Voort said. "That's the outcome we want as pilots and instructors in the aviation community."  MidAmerican Energy crews worked to switch circuits after the crash left approximately 720 customers without service.Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says Park Avenue will be closed until Sunday as emergency crews investigate.Officials did not release the names of the pilot or passengers.The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash. Plane parachutes have been around since 1992, but according to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the FAA didn't approve them for use until 1993.      Check back with KCCI-TV, kcci.com or our mobile apps for more on this developing story.PHOTOS: