2 February 2007
Balistic Recovery Systems (BRS) has been talking about its new ‘Next Generation Parachute System’.
It has told on-line journal Avweb that its next parachutes – which are months rather than years away – will be fitted to aircraft up to 5,000 lb (this, they say, would include airframes such as the Diamond D-Jet, which is expected to have a BRS parachute). The company is testing two systems. Under one, an aircraft would have to slow to 180 kt before deployment; in the second a small parachute could be deployed first, to help the aircraft slow down before the main chute is deployed.
The company has been testing equipment by dropping payloads and canopies from a large military aircraft.
199 lives have been saved by BRS systems, the company says; its <a href=’http://www.brsparachutes.com’ target=’_blank’>website</a> has some footage of live deployments.
